2013 Beckmen Vineyards Cuvee Le Bec Santa Ynez Valley 750 ml

A Purisima Mountain Toast to Jean-Louis Chave

In the summer of 1992, we met Tom Beckmen, an entrepreneur who had just sold his music company on the Tokyo stock exchange for several hundred million dollars. Beckmen is good at a lot of things, but retirement didn’t turn out to be one of them. Almost immediately, Tom purchased a ranch and a vineyard on the outskirts of Santa Ynez, hoping to keep his overactive mind busy.

Tom introduced us to his son, Steve, who had expressed interest in his dad’s new venture. In 1994, intrigued by young Beckmen’s enthusiasm, we invited him to join us on a buying trip in the Rhône Valley.

Back then, if you were an importer en route to the Northern Rhône, and you didn’t do everything possible to schedule a visit with Jean-Louis Chave, you simply weren’t serious about your profession. M. Chave was a genius, a fastidious winegrower of unbridled passion and resolve. In nearly every vintage, Chave Hermitage was ethereal, a product of both the way each vineyard row was tended and Jean-Louis’ nearly fanatical cellar work.

While many collectors had cases of Chave Hermitage in their cellars, few understood the rigorous sorting process that so set Domaine Chave apart. First in the vines just before harvest, then on the sorting table, and then, most importantly, in the tasting room, Chave was quick to “declassify” his wines, selling a healthy percentage of his Hermitage for a fraction of the appellation’s asking price.

Steve Beckmen said little during our trip to the Rhône Valley. But the 24-year-old listened intently, retaining information like a sponge. To this day, Steve credits that learning experience for the critical ascent of Purisima Mountain — and what Wine Spectator and Robert Parker have both called one of America’s greatest red wine bargains — and to the discipline and rigor of the likes of J.L. Chave.

The 2013 growing season was warm in Santa Ynez, making for a copious crop of Purisima Mountain Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvédre. Beckmen took full advantage, crafting the richest, chewiest, and most concentrated reds of his career, earning rave reviews from Parker and Antonio Galloni, including 94 points for the “Purisima Mountain” Grenache, 93 points for “Clone #1” Syrah, 93 points for the “Purisima Mountain” Syrah, and 93 more for the “Block 8” Grenache.

But even as you scramble to sock away a few bottles of each of those meticulously assembled cuvées, the wine you should be piling into your cellar BY THE CASE is the 2013 “Cuvee Le Bec,” a Los Olivos Côtes du Rhône that would have M. Chave grinning ear to ear.

Parker called Steve Beckmen’s “Cuvee Le Bec” “one of the wine world’s finest bargains.” Wine Spectator placed it high on the publication’s list of the “100 Outstanding Values” of the Year. 91 points from Antonio Galloni. $18 per bottle. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Shipping included on 6.