
On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, we had a chance to once again interview Jon Priest. Jon is the senior winemaker and general manager for Etude Winery. We covered seven of his current-release wines: a Pinot Blanc and a Pinot Gris from the 2022 vintage, two Pinot Noirs from the 2021 vintage, and, finally, three regional Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2020 vintage. It was another impressive tasting! We last interviewed Jon back in December 2023. If you want to read more about Jon’s background and the winery, please check out our previous post.
Before we get to the wine reviews, I thought I would share a few new tidbits we learned during the tasting with Jon.
- Etude recently remodeled their courtyard. It is a big improvement for their hospitality experience.
- The winery is 100% renewable after adding another solar array.
- The 2024 vintage is one of the best that Jon has ever experienced.
- No weather impacts. Small yields. Concentrated fruit. Great phenolics and great tannins.
- The 2023 vintage was a robust vintage with a bounty of fruit.
- The 2022 vintage was a rushed vintage. Labor Day heat spike came with 80% of Pinot harvested and then they needed to get the Cab’s off the vine early.
- The 2021 vintage good vintage with modest rainfall after the droughts. Concentrated fruit flavors and modest yields.
- The 2020 vintage had a very hot summer and drought conditions. Cabs were picked early and were not fire effected.
- Pinot Blanc comes from less than an acre. Planted on rocky soils in 2000. They use older French oak barrels for this wine.
- Grace Benoist Ranch has three dozen vineyards on the Ranch. It also has 13 different soil types on the Ranch. They use 8 of them. The Ranch is 1,500 acres.
- Heirloom Pinot Noir comes from 3 separate parcels on the Ranch.
- Cab for the 2020 “Napa Valley” blend comes from benchland vineyards such as Meteor Vineyard, Vinehill Ranch, and Morisoli Vineyard.
- The “Oakville” Cab comes 100% from Vinehill Ranch. It is all Clone 4
- The “Rutherford” Cab comes 100% from the Morisoli Vineyard. This wine comes from the CSE (Cabernet Sauvignon East) section of the vineyard (aka known as the Zieger Block – 10 Acres). It was purchased and replanted by Gary Morisoli in 1992, it is currently producing Clone 7 Cabernet Sauvignon on 110R and 1103P rootstock. Etude also pulls Cab from the Philip New Block which is a 17-acre block. This section of vineyard was redeveloped in 2017 and is planted to Clone 4, 7 & 8 on O39-16 rootstock.
Below is a summary of the Etude wines that we covered with Jon. The links below are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering and trying these wines, you will find many of these wines via your favorite fine wine shop or on top quality wines lists. You can also purchase Etude Wines directly from the Etude website.
1) Etude 2022 Pinot Blanc “Estate” (Carneros) $40 (KWGTP 92.5)
2) Etude 2022 Pinot Gris “Estate” (Carneros) $32 (KWGTP 92)
3) Etude 2021 Pinot Noir “Fiddlestix Vineyard” (Sta. Rita Hills) $70 (KWGTP 93.5)
4) Etude 2021 Pinot Noir “Heirloom” (Carneros) $100 (KWGTP 95)
5) Etude 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon “Napa Valley” $100 (KWGTP 93)
6) Etude 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon “Rutherford” $155 (KWGTP 95)
7) Etude 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon “Oakville” $155 (KWGTP 94)
You can find reviews of past and future Etude wines that we cover on the KWG Etude winery page on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! – Ken