Inspired by my brother’s love and mastery of this noble variety, the 2024 Brother‘s Ilk is tribute to Phil’s thinking, Ben Zander’s Bernard 95 clone fruit and our hard graft in the winery. It’s a bit of old school smashed together with a lot of new thinking all wrapped up in a bloody tasty wine.
Six Bottle Case $240 | Dozen Price $456
Production:
Single vineyard wine.
Bernard 95 Clone Chardonnay Grown on Ben Zander's Flaxman's Valley, Eden Valley Vineyard.
Total production 720 bottles
Colour:
Pale green/gold straw
Nose:
Plenty of white peach leanness over restrained and subtle high quality oak. A fresh layer of reserved lemon peel, fresh cream, slight toffee hints overlay yeasty complexity
Palate:
Terrific line and length up front. Initially Minerally and lithe palate which with fresh white peach underpinned with lemon zest, creamy texture & a mouth-watering crisp finish.
Philosophy:
Back in 2008, my brother Phil, fresh(ish) from a vintage in Burgundy, said let’s make a Chardonnay. I said, “are you fucking joking??” The answer was thankfully ‘no’ and resulted in the first iteration of the Brother’s Ilk Chardonnay. After Stealing Phil’s original concept, a smidge of his methodology and forging onwards (solo) from 2009, some 15 years now - I’ve honed my interpretation of the ‘Brother’s Ilk’ and made it my own. 2024 has seen us sourcing the fruit from Phil’s Sweet Spot on Ben Zander’s Flaxman’s Valley Bernard 95 Chardonnay block. 1050 bottles have been handmade of the 2024 Brothers Ilk, each carefully hand packaged by team ‘david Franz.’ Please enjoy this bit of Eden Valley, crafted in the Western Barossa!
