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27 Aug 2024 | Jeremy Dugan

CONDUIT WINE: FINDING GOLD IN EL DORADO COUNTY

I first met Aaron Bryan last summer when he was down here meeting accounts. Besides us both being cool individuals, we really hit it off because I know where El Dorado County is. Not too far from where my Fiancé grew up in Placerville, California, is Aaron and his wife Amy’s vineyard Gold Dust Estate Vineyard. On their 6 acres, the Bryans grow Syrah, Viognier, Primitivo and Tempranillo. And for the grapes they don’t grow themselves, they work with like minded grape growers. When I was learning about Aaron and Amy’s processes, I thought the split between their two labels, Conduit Wine and Divergent Vine, was Estate grapes versus “sourced” grapes, but that isn’t the case. When described by Aaron, Conduit is all Rhone Valley varietals and Divergent is the label Aaron gets to play with all types of varieties.

Aaron didn’t start out in the wine business. He was an economist who found wine fascinating, not just drinking it, but the art and science behind making it as well. After spending some time in New York, Aaron moved back to Northern California and started making beer and wine in his garage. It was in 2013 that he decided to jump in with both feet and made winemaking his fulltime job. A year later is when he met Amy who was a Regional Sales Manager for a major distributor and importer. Amy now runs all national and international sales, marketing and public relations for Conduit.

Aaron’s wine philosophy is that as a winemaker he is an agent for the fruit. A conduit for the flavors these grapes hold and believes they don’t need much intervention to make them delicious. We currently carry 3 wines from the Bryans, 1 from their vineyard and under the Conduit label, and two from Aaron’s more experimental label Divergent.

2022 Conduit Wines Fair Play, El Dorado County, CA.

100% Grenache, half the grapes were fermented whole cluster, the other half were destemmed, all the juice spent 8 months in used French oak. This is just a playful, fruit forward wine that could is great at room temp, but could also be chilled down to subtle down the fruit a little bit. Rich black cherries, bright, ripe strawberries, black plums, vibrant raspberries and light notes of blackberries. There are some light tannins, but if you were to chill the wine down, those would disappear and leave you with the opulent fruit.

2022 Divergent Vine A Touch of Gray Rock, Sierra foothills, CA.

This vintage of Touch of Gray Rock is a blend of Sangiovese (46%), Zinfandel (46%) and Zinfandel’s Italian Cousin, Primitivo (8%). This wine is fruity, but has nice acidity, light smokey leather up front leads to vibrant notes of cranberries. Delicate vegetal characteristics lead to rich notes of boysenberries and figs. If you were to chill this down, you’d get more fruit, less acidity.

2022 Divergent Vine Malbec, Clarksburg, CA. 

The grapes for this wine were destemmed and fermented with whole berries. The juice was aged in used French oak for 13 months. This is the kind of wine you drink and think about, the more sips you take, the more your palate discovers. Soft roasted coffee plays two roles in this wine, it brings a little acidity, keeping the mouthfeel light, while also being the tannins for the wine, so drying the tastebuds out and letting fruit come out. Rich notes of blueberries and vibrant raspberries create a bramble kind of profile. Dried coco notes call back to the roasted coffee, helping keep the mouthfeel light and drier than one might expect.

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