![2023 Q1 19321](https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=1250&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2000&s=7ea87d4f400bbf85a960d1007a9c99a2 2000w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=1125&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1800&s=5024573df6c6a92ea1a488191ccab5c6 1800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=1000&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1600&s=be75a6e01b8a8835ac27f18283cb6f36 1600w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=812&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1300&s=96ef581ce32d4ce757dcf1239f767479 1300w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=687&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1100&s=c2b24ec9153209b094f7ee3225e080fb 1100w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=562&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=900&s=ba82f4de236bedd55b49b3559397b62e 900w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=500&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=800&s=3c00883c08c40177d3489c74729d77da 800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=375&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=600&s=41fe33ef7bb2fc6b2f32e88733876b19 600w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/blog/2023Q1-19321.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.4243&fp-y=0.6579&h=250&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=400&s=62b02299a9055ae61d69926a9fd4151b 400w)
Tales From Our Cellar: 2020 Petite Sirah
Posted: Jul 11, 2023
For over 30 years, we have been fans of Petite Sirah after drinking many bottles of Stag’s Leap Petite Sirah in the early to mid-1990s. During the drawn-out days of the COVID shutdowns of 2020, we had a lot of time to think about all the wines we have never produced but always loved and wanted to make. Petite Sirah was at the top of that list so we went searching Santa Barbara County for some fruit before settling on fruit from a 15+ year old vineyard in the Los Alamos area. To add to the challenge, not only had we never made a Petite Sirah, but it had also been decades since we made any wine from Los Alamos, an area known for its mild climate and sandy soils which limit the vigor causing the vines to stress. The heat spikes of the 2020 vintage added to the stress on the vines and fruit which was harvested in October during one of the many heat spikes of the vintage.
Unfortunately, the fruit was not very pretty when it arrived at the winery making for a lot of work for our hands and sorting machine. Once sorted and in the fermenter, it looked better, but we knew that controlling the extraction was going to be key to bringing any elegance and drinkability to this wine. After 12 days in the fermenter, the wine was a monster, dark black in color with massive tannins — pretty much everything we thought it would be.
![Steve Beckmen Winemaker2022 13](https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1375&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2200&s=9a10c9897d363e1e373307545dc64225 2200w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1250&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2000&s=7f4f1c84ac947399182ab2b5585656c0 2000w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1125&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1800&s=b5030c67b45b8ff91fe6dccd66994b5f 1800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1000&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1600&s=22f65d90d1184e27ac511db48c17d083 1600w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=812&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1300&s=2ef7772185a381d5d0372e6b3a80bd71 1300w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=687&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1100&s=189b728392a796b4797d4c1cb175c89d 1100w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=562&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=900&s=7ef22c65315f092f987a7bd669d13b0f 900w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=500&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=800&s=3d6258e2ff560b66500d2c7c2d8c3c5f 800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=600&s=9270e76ae4878ac025ad2b739d1a10c7 600w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/Steve-Beckmen-Winemaker2022-13.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=400&s=751585cd58ce3be03aebb3f7839d89b4 400w)
At 8 months of aging, we racked the wine for the first time and decided that we needed to tone the wine down a bit to bring some balance, additional texture and elegance, to make it more Beckmen in style. I left it in the hands of my assistant Rory Baldwin, and he, along with Abel (long time cellar master) and a former cellar worker, began blending trials on the wine. After some time, they presented their favorites to me, and after tasting them, we decided to go with an addition of 20% Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah (how could we go wrong with that call?). The Syrah addition toned down the massive tannins and structure of the pure Petite Sirah, bringing the balance and texture that it needed. While the blend made it more Beckmen in style, the wine unquestionably keeps the focus on the varietal flavor of the Petite Sirah. The wine aged for a total of 22 months in neutral French oak barrel prior to bottling.
Honestly, I am glad we waited almost 30 years to produce our first Petite Sirah because we needed all that experience to create a wine as good as this from the materials we started with.
![2023 Q1 19351](https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2999&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=2000&s=57eb1b7529c430a22351f1b71bbc610a 2000w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2699&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1800&s=5bc850724558e4f07a968410c762145f 1800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2399&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1600&s=2211878dd06c498cdb5c2c7778f39e9f 1600w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1949&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1300&s=fd1971e5d29d8f91d64054d0f4a56e59 1300w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1649&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=1100&s=df2f152918eff69b82397ad22c77117a 1100w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1349&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=900&s=49effc4ef663b68479425673837a52b8 900w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1199&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=800&s=b7177806e8ea0c6283a5a249cde08341 800w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=299&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=200&s=cdfd237885dd173f66af2176fec35e5f 200w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=599&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=400&s=63236886f75ffc0a116f742833c95f79 400w, https://beckmen.imgix.net/general-images/2023Q1-19351.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&domain=beckmen.imgix.net&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=899&ixlib=php-3.3.1&w=600&s=3c111ae61b2d1354e6b4bd4e0ebb60bc 600w)
The 2020 Petite Sirah is now sold out.