Etude Lyric Pinot Noir Santa Barbara 2022

The folks at Etude have built up an incredible following at Nicholas Wines, but I’m a little worried that the trend may have been put in jeopardy thanks to a few people in the Etude marketing department!

Each year, we’ve been treated to a beautifully well-made, truly gulpable Pinot, full of easy, breezy bright cherry fruits and truly suitable as a cocktail wine. Every year, the power of the Nicholas Wines buyers helps sell every single bottle that makes it out of the winery in a hurry.

But in a 2022 vintage that saw a slightly larger crop, the marketing department at Etude panicked and did something that they haven’t done since 2016: They submitted the little known ‘Lyric’ for expert reviews. Why on God’s green earth did they have to let the cat out of the bag?!? We’ll never know.

Unsurprisingly, Wine Enthusiast’s tasting team loved the wine, giving it a 90-point seal of approval and calling out this silky Pinot Noir for its “cherry-cola components” and making it one of their top 90-point bargains of the year. Good for the winery, but creating a mess for us and our annual allocation!