October 02, 2023
Beckham Estate
Who?
+Andrew and Annedria Beckham founded Beckham Estate in 2005. Andrew is an Oregon native and has been a ceramics artist and teacher for over 25 years, still teaching at a local high school. Annedria grew up in SLC and manages the business side of things. She’s often the face of the estate, hosting many tasting experiences. Andrew spent several years apprenticing under respected winemakers in the region, and started producing his own wines in 2009.
Where?
+Thirty minutes south of Portland on a hilltop in Oregon’s Chehalem Mountains.
+They originally intended to only build a ceramics studio when they moved to the area in 2004 but were instead so inspired by the local farming community that they began planting their future vineyards, consciously leaving riparian zones for natural habitat and wildlife.
What?
+Their 34 acres include plantings of Pinot Noir, Trousseau, Riesling, Sauvignin, Sauvignon Blanc, Aligoté, and Gamay. Each year they source a small percentage of fruit from fellow producers that share their farming philosophies, but grow different grape varietals.
+The vineyards are organic, have been dry-farmed since the beginning and they stopped tilling in 2012. Over the years, their approach has evolved to include many principles of Biodynamic and regenerative farming, incorporating grazing animals and plant diversity into the vineyard management.
Why we love them:
+Not only do they make wine but Andrew also hand-builds all of their amphorae! The A.D. Beckham label ferment and age primarily in these amphorae. His ceramics business, Novum Ceramics is the 1st commercial producer of terra cotta amphorae for winemaking in North America.
+Andrew has noted some benefits of using clay, like: the extraction at the end of the primary fermentation is brighter and higher toned and has more energy and tension, the wine doesn't get as hot and doesn't ferment as fast, and during aging, the wine is exposed to twice the oxygen as in oak so they tend to mature at a much faster rate, thus able to be bottled at 9 or 10 months versus 18 for oak.
+There’s a kinetic motion inside amphora where the cooler contents at the bottom move towards the top. The vessel’s shape, with its progressively rolling shoulder, forces the cap of stems, seeds and skins formed on top of the wine to roll over and return back to the bottom, creating a soft texture.
+His biggest inspiration in winemaking is Italian winemaker Elisabetta Foradori, whose wines we also have in the shop! Andrew says her use of amphorae opened his eyes to a world of maceration he didn’t know much about. Her daughter even came to visit the winery and they agreed the texture is similar even though their wines are made on opposite sides of the world!
+The wines bottled under the Beckham Estate Vineyard label are only from their estate. They follow the same winemaking philosophy as the A.D. Beckham wines, but are aged in primarily 225L and 425L neutral French oak barrels. They strive for a transparent elegance with no enhancements in the winery and are often designated by parcel.
+These wines are absolutely stunning and you can expect some new additions to the current lineup in the shop soon!
-Michelle-
