Our Story
From Los Olivos to the White House

The Beckmen Family
Beckmen Vineyards began after Tom and Judy Beckmen left their innovative electronic music company Roland Corp, US to become pioneers of California wine. With youngest son Steve as Winemaker, and oldest son Jeff joining as Director of Sales later on, Beckmen Vineyards is a family owned and operated winery. Since 1994, we’ve established ourselves as a benchmark Santa Barbara County grower and producer. Our consistent quality vintage after vintage keeps us a favorite of critics, tastemakers, and collectors. Our wines have filled the cellars and tables of the country’s finest restaurants and houses (including the White House).
Beckmen wines are crafted almost exclusively from our two vineyards, the Thomas and Judith Beckmen Estate Vineyard in Los Olivos District AVA and Purisima Mountain Vineyard in Ballard Canyon AVA. Farming over 150 acres of vines, we view every vintage as another opportunity to grow our legacy as a world-class winery by creating wines that future generations will enjoy. Currently, we’re proud to be hosting wine lovers seven days a week, providing unforgettable experiences at our beautiful winery and tasting room in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Tom Beckmen is the pioneer and leader that founded Roland Corp. US, one of the biggest names in the electronic music business. The heart of Tom's entrepreneurial success has always been his ability to look towards the future and embrace new challenges.

Like his father, Tom, Steve also looked towards the future, pushing the winery to produce the Rhône style wines for which Beckmen and Santa Barbara County have become so well known, as well as establishing the first certified Biodynamic vineyard in the county.

After a 24-year career on Wall Street, Jeff Beckmen joined the family winery in 2016 to help with national sales. After working in a service business, Jeff is excited to be selling and marketing a product in which he and his family take great pride.

The Vineyards
As our name implies, Beckmen Vineyards consists of two separate vineyards, each with varying soils and climates. On the western side of Ballard Canyon AVA lies our acclaimed 365 acre (125 acres planted), certified Biodynamic Purisima Mountain Vineyard. With peaks reaching 1,150 feet, Purisima Mountain is a winemaker’s dream, boasting almost 500 feet of elevation change with multiple exposures across its slopes.
Purisima Mountain Vineyard is home to a diversity of grape varieties, including Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, and Chardonnay, as well as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Counoise. The most unique feature of the site is its limestone subsoil. Limestone soils aren’t commonly found in California, mostly in corners of the Central Coast. These soils are prized in regions like Champagne, Burgundy, and the Southern Rhône Valley for producing wines with intense flavors, great acidity, and sturdy structure.
Wine can only be as great as the vineyard where it begins, and the vineyards that we farm are truly what separate us from other wineries.
The Thomas and Judith Beckmen Estate Vineyard is 40 acres (25 planted) of rolling hills situated on the western border of the Los Olivos District, several miles east of Purisima Mountain. Mostly planted to Cabernet Sauvignon with small amounts of Grenache, Mourvedre, Merlot, and Syrah, this vineyard has a slightly warmer climate and a gravelly, well-drained soil which allows us to craft wines with a different profile. Tending vines from dormancy through harvest since 1994, we’ve discovered, row by row, the unique soil and microclimate that best hosts each grape variety, ensuring every block in the vineyard consistently produces the highest quality fruit possible. We can utilize each of our vineyards’ strengths to balance and complement each other when blended into wines like Cuvee le Bec or allow them to express their individual personalities in our range of single vineyard wines.
We are Committed to Biodynamic Farming
Biodynamic farming is organic farming, and then some. We go beyond organic farming by treating the farm as a living organism: self-contained, self-sustaining, and following the cycles of nature. We do not use herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, or nitrogen based fertilizer on our vineyards.
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Winemaking
As we guide the grapes from the vineyard to bottle, our mission is to showcase the distinct qualities expressed by each grape variety, and the unique character of both vineyards. We ferment and age our wines in small lots of 1 – 2 tons in order to capture the individuality of each block in both of the vineyards. We age and blend most of our wines from this collection of small lots, so that each bottle of finished wine receives the same meticulous attention to detail that the vineyards receive year round.
Rather than being locked into a rigid process or timeline, our winemaking is done through“smart interventionism.” We make the best decisions at every step in order to create wines that balance depth of flavor, complexity, and the elegance our vineyards naturally possess.

Traditional Craftsmanship
We’re fascinated by the ways in which winemaking has evolved over the last 8,000 years. That’s why we consider the wisdom of ancient traditions when we craft 1NGREDIENT wines by hand. From our commitment to chemical-free farming to the use of custom amphora, we’re a winery dedicated to rediscovering and preserving “slow” agriculture and folk craftsmanship. Learn more.


Our Wines
Beckmen Vineyards wines are sold in 25+ states and can be purchased at boutique retailers and fine restaurants across the United States. The best place to sample our wines is where they’re grown, at the Beckmen Vineyards tasting room, located on the Thomas and Judith Beckmen Estate Vineyard outside of Los Olivos, CA.
Our elegant winemaking style was developed from the character of our pristine vineyards and shaped by our love for quality food and flavors that make a statement. Enjoy our wines on their own to appreciate their originality and complexity, or do as sommeliers across the country do, pair them with great food to elevate the experience and heighten your satisfaction. The best way to enjoy Beckmen wines is to become a member. Four times a year, members receive a curated selection of wines, most of which are not sold in stores. Members also enjoy complimentary tastings, videos about each new release, recommendations for how long to cellar your wines, invitations to events plus more surprises.