Backstory: Confluence Vineyard was always George H. Bush’s preferred single vineyard Pinot from Goldeneye, and the year before I worked harvest there, the last thing the interns got paid to do was handbottle and wax dip 3 Liter Mags of the stuff to ship to the family compound in Kennebunkport Maine. Planted to every clone of Pinot possible and, from an aerial view, in the pattern of one giant duck (for real), it’s the first ranch that gets picked every year, and usually has brightness and acid, in addition to velvety gobs of Ducky fruit. Winemaker Michael Fay and Francisco Ibarra tapped into some magic in 2012, from what the vineyard crew calls and labels “Conflás”. Maybe it means the same thing, and if it does, once again English is the least romantic language. To Conflás something or someone sounds way more tantalizing than any contemporary love act I’ve ever heard of.
Tastes like: Last supper material, with a warden whispering “You made it son, well lived.” Color is deep ruby red, texture is weighty, and the wine smells like the best oak money can by, underlying herbs and green beans, coffee, and fresh black cherries. It actually smells like the vineyard itself during harvest, with the omnipresent pennyroyal wafting in the warm wind.
Buy it at: Goldeneye tasting room for $80, and use those shoebox $20 bills for this special occasion juice.
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