3/18/2024 - JeffroLA Likes this wine:

I just found 6 of these in the cellar. Aged perfectly and vibrant. Better than I could imagine.

12/23/2023 - mchamuka Likes this wine:

Bottle was showing age but after aeration the wine showed signs of its better drinking period. Fruit was slightly muted but a nice bouquet of cherry with some graphite present. It was a bit outside its window but still worthy of enjoying.

10/10/2015 - Peech Likes this wine:

a little bubblegum, very ripe, with lots of sweet fruit. Almost jammy.

1/20/2016 - Peech Likes this wine:

nose of sweet fruit, with black cherry notes. Alcohol was a little sharp on the nose. Fragrant and a little floral, with some hawthorne notes.

12/5/2016 - Peech wrote:

pretty sweet and fruity, but the palate was a little flat.

9/21/2017 - Peech wrote:

initially not much sweet fruit, probably a little over the hill now. A little more fruit later after aeration.

8/19/2023 - Winokdub wrote:

Really impressed by this. From a magnum. Full flavored and beautiful. By itself or with food. Yum

5/1/2023 - bobadopolis Likes this wine:

Alcova, WY 2023. Spectacular

2/24/2023 - sstein19 Likes this wine:

Light violet in color with an edge of brown. Nose of earth, barn wood, fig, and cranberry. Second nose opens up with more of the same, raspberry, forest floor, and cassis. Smooth but a full bodied Pinot. Has aged well with velvet mouthfeel.

12/25/2022 - sstein19 Likes this wine:

First nose of earth, leather, cherry, smoke and red licorice. Second nose is more of the dark boozy cherry. Smooth mouthfeel and very slight tannic dry finish.

12/18/2022 - kennyd Likes this wine:

AWESOME! It is at a perfect place right now. Quite sad that we only have one more bottle left in our cellar. On the other hand, I don't see it improving, so probably wise to drink the next bottle in next 6-12 months.

11/14/2022 - Vino Me wrote:

Opened by Jcubed at an offline. The first Pinot Noir that I have had from Etude (the previous Cabs were excellent). Ruby color. A rich and full mouth feel. Notes of plum, currant and cranberry. This was a bigger Pinot but was well rounded. 92 points.

11/11/2022 - AllRed wrote:

This, in a word, is lovely. Cherry and nutmeg with a floral undertone. Medium-bodied with an elegant gossamer mouthfeel. Black cherry, orange peel and spice flavors. Courtesy of J3.

10/19/2022 - sstein19 Likes this wine:

Garnet in color. Nose of strawberry and earth. Second nose of more strawberry, cranberry, and barn wood. Very smooth and light. Elegant.

6/25/2022 - ChateauShiny Likes this wine:

Didn't take tasting notes, but this was drinking great when we popped it open over the weekend. Still a decent amount of fruit left with a good balance of bottle aging.

5/19/2022 - tanglenet wrote:

I was picking up some smoke notes which I found off putting and really didn’t concentrate on anything else.

3/22/2022 - fah wrote:

Lacks richness and not much of a finish due to a lack of acidity. I bought on discount for $43. Won't buy again. It's a disappointment.

3/18/2022 - Thebackroomvt Likes this wine:

Well made California Pinot, Smooth, Fruity Well Balanced, not sure it is improving with age. Drank 1 bottle, gave 1 away a while ago.

3/17/2022 - TBaylog wrote:

One of my fav Pinots. Silky smooth.

12/26/2021 - kennyd wrote:

G2G now. Quite Burgundian. Like it.

11/12/2021 - Winedoc22 Likes this wine:

Great. Still with primary strawberry and raspberry, but now acquiring tobacco and earthy tones.

4/17/2021 - fmginc Likes this wine:

wonderful rich fruit and great finish

4/17/2021 - fmginc Likes this wine:

wonderful full fruit intense dee garnet color and so smooth

3/31/2021 - VlgJeff wrote:

Slo-oxed for 15 minutes and did not open further during dinner. The color was a brick red. The nose only showed some light red fruits. The medium to minus bodied palate showed these same light red fruits, along with earth notes, and a bit more acidity than needed to balance. Even friends who are in the Etude club and are big fans of Heirloom said that this bottle showed very light - both in body and in flavor. All of us chalked it up to advanced age.

3/7/2021 - pinot_glenn Likes this wine:

initials sweet cherry. opened up with more earthy meaty nose. medium mouth feel. good structure and tannins

2/28/2021 - Yak too Likes this wine:

Still an enjoyable bottle with a grilled belly salmon over greens, however we did let this go a bit to long.

2/28/2021 - Yak too Likes this wine:

Almost 20 and drank beautifully from beginning to end....

1/15/2021 - kingsf Likes this wine:

Wow, great red fruit flavor, acidity perfect..great great great wine with sushi..3 left....coark was half way dont think it will gain in years so definitly ready to drink now and before 3 more years...my guess.

1/10/2021 - Yak too Likes this wine:

It is a bit over the hill when I think back five or so years, but I’m pleased at how well this wine has held up.I was keeping a vertical together for some silly reason, nostalgia I guess, a big fan since the early years. It is somewhat astringent at the finish but not the entire evening, it went through periods of old dark Burgundian fruit copy cat, also times showing a bit of youthful fruit. Very little bricking, color is shockingly ruby and clear. Duck is the only way to go with this stuff...

12/11/2020 - kennyd Likes this wine:

Note to self: follow your own advice. Wait. 12. Months.

9/5/2020 - kennyd Likes this wine:

Tasted this at Etude in March 2019, and purchased half a case. This is the first bottle we've opened from our cellar. It's a 92 right now, but I think it is evolving in a nice direction. This is not your prototypical fruit bomb Sonoma or Carneros pinot noir. Elegantly subdued. Undertones of forest floor, which became even more pronounced as the wine opened up. Good sign for the future. The taste is quite burgundian, with almost a savory flavor at first. Over time it opened up to a fuller, redder taste profile, with the good pinot acidity. Again, however, it is not and will never be a fruit bomb. Going to wait 9-12 months on the next bottle. This no. 1 from Etude has a long life in front of it. Cheers!

8/28/2020 - mflesh wrote:

This is the last one of these. It's been 4 years since opening the last one as I thought this could use some time. Man, the time has really done this one well. I am actually a fan of this producer with regard to their budget pinot. 20 bucks and you get a good crowd-pleaser. Although I don't know if I would buy this since my palate has changed since purchasing these, I have to respect this for being a great higher end pinot that does showcase Carneros pinot very well. Still has a lot of robust, sweet raspberry fruit almost like a raspberry tea Graham cracker. A very rounded front. Just about as full-bodied as traditional Pinot gets. A little bit of mint, herbs. Finishes with very good acidity but the acidic nature is starting to fade. This was consumed all by itself, so it actually was a very nice characteristic as it allowed the raspberry to fade out a bit and not end so abruptly. I wouldn't trust this one to really drink so well three or four years from now. But it is really good now!

5/14/2020 - bobadopolis Likes this wine:

Nose of plum and a blueberry pie. Earthy fruitiness, pine needles, dirt, blackberries on the palate. Finish is mellow but carries on for a good long while. Excellent showing.

4/27/2020 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine:

Same bottle again but probably some slight degradation by now from the first Coravin about a year ago! Tried this semiblind alongside 2009 Perrot-Minot Les Fuées, Bruno Clair 2007 Clos de Bèze and 2011 Grivot Nuits, Les Boudots.
Intense sweet red fruit aromas towards strawberry/raspberry, oaky in comparison and rather heavy and dense against the Boudots and the Fuees. In the mouth good fruit but a little warm and alcoholic. Earthy notes and not completely in synch. Probably too many Coravin tappings by now.
The only conclusion I can make is that it was easily spotted as the Californian one.

3/29/2020 - jdidom Likes this wine:

Great juice

11/3/2019 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine:

Red fruit restrained nose, very restrained for a Californian PN. Very good acidity, fruit and fine grained tannin, just enough to give it structure. Fresh, pure and balanced. A tad linear in the sense it lacks a bit complexity but maybe this comes with more ageing. Really drinks well now though.

10/18/2019 - sstein19 Likes this wine:

Violet in color. Nose of bright red berries, red cherry and, leather. Second nose of red licorice and black pepper. Smooth and almost Smokey on the mouthfeel. Mineral finish.

Young. Needs to age 2 to 3 more years.

9/26/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:

Barrel sample. Just one component, not the final blend. 9 little parcels. Green blue and yellow was the code - they apparently code name by color but want say what it refers too.

Open top fermenter so they catch a little co2 so tehy can leave it on the skins longer.

Good tension, has a touch of earth, hasn't gone through malo but I still enjoyed it. Blue flowers - iris, lavender, violets. Short tannins now and just a touch blocky notes the wine maker. Will fill in.

9/26/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:

Now this is perfumed.

First vintage was 1996. From vineyards that growers hated because they were so difficult to grow. But Tony loved them because they produced a very special wine.

Nice length on the palate as well. Spicy and elegant. With some fresh acidity.

Now its a selection of their vines and vineyards. Winemaker likes to feel like the vines are brugundy bread. He feels like it requires aging. It's a baby right now. Fair amount of whole cluster. He likes the wine at age 7.

The chardonnay is apparently a Hens and Chicks thing going on. That's the heirloom Chardonnay.

Whole cluster is not a formula. Depends on the fruit character of the vintage.

9/22/2019 - Zahle Likes this wine:

Don't call this vintage over the hill yet. It still has all the lovely qualities of Etude's best product.

3/1/2019 - mflesh wrote:

Has lost its rounded character. Raspberry core but more herbal now with mint to the middle. Definitely more jagged to the finish with nice acidity. Definitely at the top of the hill. Gonna probably be here for a couple of years. But the 2014 needs to sit a bit for sure.

2/18/2019 - pwmarston Likes this wine:

Consistently good Pinot. A staple in our cellar.

7/26/2018 - agnorger Likes this wine:

Still on fire after all this time. Wonderful but drink now.

4/15/2018 - jrhonda160 Likes this wine:

One of the best Pinot's I've had.

3/27/2018 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

In a good place, bright fresh red fruit (cherry, raspberry, strawberry) and acid, with a touch of oak.

2/11/2018 - Blakebpalmer Likes this wine:

This Pinot was heavy and very fruit forward cab like. Very much enjoyed

1/22/2018 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

Some light fruit in balance with an earthy/slate like finish. Enjoyed with pizza.

1/6/2018 - arp46 Likes this wine:

Consumed at the Palm Steak House in NYC. The bottle was filtered and decanted yielding a deep ruby liquor with intensely rich aromas of jammy blue fruits. An explosive and deep palate with a long finish made this a memorable bottle. Waiting to drink the second bottle was a worthwhile investment in time.

12/26/2017 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

Best bottle yet. Candied red fruit with mushroom and forest floor.

12/24/2017 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

After breathing for 5 hours—Big ripe fruit nose, verging on overripe. A little cedar and slice balancing out sweet red fruit. Tannins still are present. Maybe this has the stuffing to age for another 5 - 10 years.