Dennis Schaefer (DS): What attracted your family to the wine business?

Steve Beckmen (SB): I think what attracted us the most was the Santa Ynez Valley and the great potential we saw there for growing world-class wines. At the time, Santa Barbara County was not seen as a highly regarded appellation, but after tasting some of the wines, and seeing and embracing the passion others had for the area, we became believers. We were also excited by the fact that we were not only creating a winery, we were helping the area to achieve its potential.

DS: How did you come to the conclusion that Rhone varietals were the way to go?

SB: The wines determined the direction. The most exciting wines we made, the ones with the most potential, were the Rhône varietals. The Syrah, which was purchased from the original Stolpman and Thompson Vineyard plantings, stood out the most. In addition, we were excited about the Grenache, which was also from the original Stolpman plantings. These were clearly the best wines we had ever made in the short time we had been making wines.

It seemed obvious, yet a bit risky, to go in this direction because, at the time, these were relatively unknown or misunderstood varietals in the marketplace. One other factor that I constantly thought about was trying to establish an identity for the middle part of the Santa Ynez Valley. This area was not Pinot or Chardonnay country, and the history of Cabernet and other Bordeaux varieties was mixed at best. Great growing regions usually have one wine or group of grapes that identifies that region, but there was not yet such an identifying grape for this area. Rhône grapes were the identity that I, along with a few others, was seeking for the area. I think that we have been successful in finding our identity, and that identity is building.

DS: What was the impetus for taking a 365-acre property in Santa Ynez Valley and planting Purisima Mountain Vineyard?

SB: There are a couple of reasons that we decided to plant Purisima, both of which relate to our desire to get the highest quality fruit. After a few years of buying fruit from "growers," it became clear that there was a big difference between how we wanted the vineyards managed and how the growers wanted to manage them. By planting our own vineyard, we were able to take full control over every aspect of the farming, from development to day-to-day management. Now we are doing things the way we want them done, all with the aim of achieving the highest quality fruit possible. We also love the uniqueness of having an estate-grown winery in California; there are so few.

DS: Did you consider planting that vineyard a gamble?

SB: I would say it was a bit of a gamble, because we planted in a relatively new area, and were looking to plant "new" varieties like Grenache and Syrah. How much of a gamble is debatable. The biggest concern is always quality. We didn’t just want to plant a vineyard; we wanted to establish a vineyard capable of producing world-class wine grapes.

DS: How did you learn about and come to embrace biodynamics at Purisima Mountain Vineyard?

SB: I first heard about biodynamics from a college friend who had embraced the philosophy for his backyard garden in 1995. After hearing some of the ideas, I was skeptical about how the philosophy could be applied on a much larger scale. After a couple of years of tasting the fruits of his labor, I was convinced there was something there. He was growing some of the finest fruits and vegetables I had ever seen or tasted.

In 1999, a very tall Frenchman named Philippe Armenier approached my table at Hospice du Rhône and started talking about biodynamics. Philippe spoke from first hand experience - he and his family were the first to embrace biodynamics in Châteauneuf-du-Pape at his family estate, Domaine de Marcoux.

During the 2001 growing season, Philippe stopped by the winery and we had some intense discussions. By this time, I had tasted many biodynamically grown wines, and was seeing consistently exciting things, both in terms of quality and flavor. Many of these wines possessed a complexity, terroir and elegance that were quite impressive. I decided to start doing a trial of 17 acres of Syrah on Purisima Mountain Vineyard, using only biodynamic practices.

One of the hardest things to do in biodynamics is to actually make the decision to try it. Once you make the decision, everything seems to fall into place. We saw good results almost immediately, and I soon decided to expand the trial to 42 acres. Over the next couple of seasons we stayed at 42 acres, until the 2006 season when we were in the right position to make the move to 100 percent biodynamic farming on our Purisima Mountain Vineyard.

DS: What does biodynamics involve? At Purisima, do you pick and choose from the biodynamics menu (as some vintners do) or do you do the whole nine yards?

SB: In order to try biodynamics fully, we embraced the whole of the practice, spraying all the preparations, following the calendar, composting, etc. I believed that if we were going to try biodynamics and get a true sense of its merits, we needed to do it right, not in pieces. Today, we continue to embrace the philosophy fully; however we have learned how to tailor the practices in different parts of the vineyard. Some blocks need more of some things and less of others, which is something any good farmer understands. We are not where I would ultimately like us to be with biodynamics, but we are getting there. It is an evolving process.

At some point I would love to make the Purisima Mountain property a fully functional single-farm organism, where we have our own livestock feeding our soils, where we grow diverse gardens, vegetables, fruits, hay, and make our own biodynamic preparations, etc. We are slowly building to this point, and it is definitely my long-term goal.

DS: You did controlled trials, both in the vineyard and tasting the finished wines: that is, conventionally farmed grapes vs. biodynamically farmed grapes. What were the results of your trials and what conclusions did you reach?

SB: We started out with a trial of 17 acres back in 2002. That quickly expanded to 42 acres, but we still had a conventional vs. biodynamic trial going. We had rows right next to each other being farmed differently and I could see the results almost immediately. First, in the expression of the plant, how it grew, what the color of the leaves and canopy were. We saw plants that wanted to grow straight up to the sun, instead of in all directions - the symptoms of spring fever were dramatically decreased in the biodynamic rows. When we brought in the fruit, we saw increased nutrients in our musts and healthier fermentations. From this fruit we made wines that I loved, wines that I thought expressed what the terroir of Purisima was truly about: rich, ripe wines that were balanced and elegant.

Over the next few seasons, the results of soil and plant tissue analysis showed that the soils were improving and becoming more balanced in the biodynamic areas, as compared to the conventional areas. Soil health and life was greatly improved as well. For example, in the years leading up to my biodynamic trial, I always looked for earth worms in the vineyard and found very few. Now there are earthworms everywhere, or at least signs of earthworm activity in the soil, which is a very good thing.

Across the board, the main conclusion I reached was that the quality of the fruit we were farming was better in the biodynamic blocks. This led to the conversion of the whole vineyard, when the timing was right at the end of the 2005 season.

DS: How do you biodynamically deal with powdery mildew, sharpshooters, mealy bugs and nematodes in the vineyard?

SB: As far as disease and pest pressure goes, the ultimate goal is to have the vineyard in such a state of balance that the vines will naturally not attract disease and pests. This is something I truly love about biodynamics. It provides an overall solution to farming, instead of the quick fix provided by conventional chemical-reliant farming. It is usually these "quick fix" ideas that lead to more problems. With biodynamics, the overall solution to soil and vine health may take a while to achieve, but it is possible. In the meantime, there are organic materials we use to deal with our two greatest pests, mildew and leafhoppers. But again, I am confident that we will get to the point where we do not need any of these materials.

Another biodynamic method to deal with pests that we have used with great success is known as a "pepper." Basically a "pepper" is the ashes of the pest, i.e. the skin of a gopher or leafhoppers, made into a homeopathic solution and sprayed on the vineyard. For the past two years, we have used a "pepper" spray for both gophers and for leafhoppers and have seen the populations of each dramatically diminish. Before biodynamics, we sprayed every year for leafhoppers in the vineyard, to try to keep their out-of-control populations in check. Now we have a few leafhoppers in the vineyard, but the numbers are easily manageable. The same is true for gophers. We used to set 35 traps a day and get 30-35 gophers a day during the season, now we set 30 and we get 2-4 a day. We have sacrificed a few and used their ashes to communicate with the rest of the population to go live beyond our vineyard, or in the neighbors’ vineyard (sorry guys).

DS: Some of the ideas of biodynamics seem a little on the hippie-dippy, New Age side. Some of the preparations and timing also seem a little wacky. Can you explain how that works and how you really KNOW that it works?

SB: I can see how people might perceive the biodynamic preparations themselves as being a bit out there. To most people, nettle, dandelion etc. are just weeds and pests. So it is difficult to explain how they work, but in working with them and applying them, you get to understand that there is a tremendous amount of power and energy in these ingredients and preparations, and that they are extremely beneficial to the earth and to our vineyard. As far as the timing goes, this is something that I think is easier to grasp. Basically the biodynamic calendar follows the moon as it ascends and descends in the sky and passes through the different constellations.

Prior to industrial farming, which basically stated that growing plants was nothing more than feeding them NPK, people were very successful farmers and followed the lunar calendar, basing their planting, harvesting, etc. decisions on what was going on in the sky. In the industrial age, if science cannot explain a process, then we tend to think that it is not true or believable. Biodynamic concepts can seem a little far reaching, but when you really think about them, live with them, and observe them, it is the industrial, chemical-based ideas that start to seem really out there.

DS: What do you say to those who are skeptical of the biodynamic philosophy?

SB: To the skeptics I say that the proof is in the grapes and in the bottles of wine we are producing. I am always one to acknowledge that there are many ways to grow great grapes and to make great wine, and I respect all ideas and the success that different people are having, but this philosophy was right for me, and it has improved our vineyard, our grape quality and our wine quality.

DS:What goals do you think biodynamics have helped you achieve in the vineyard?

SB: Our main goals are to continue crafting outstanding wines, and to keep improving. I know that biodynamics is helping us to achieve these goals.

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Photos courtesy of Beckmen Vineyards; photo of Steve Beckmen by Dennis Schaefer