BRAND BROS - DANIEL & JONAS BRAND
GERMANY, PFALZ, BOCKENHEIM
We are very pleased to receive new arrivals from Daniel & Jonas Brand in Bockenheim, Pfalz.
Fresh from the 2023 vintage, the new wines sing with their signature acidity, and successfully manage the balancing act of being both intense and easy-going, as is so often the case with the brothers' wines.
2023 didn't bring the heatwaves of 2022, but was a very warm year nonetheless - a mild winter, followed by a very warm spring - things cooling in July with plentiful rain that continued into August - alternating with huge bouts of sun that meant conditions were primed for mildew: lots of sorting at harvest to distinguish the good from the bad.
But Daniel & Jonas are profoundly hard-working, diligent in the vines year-round, and particularly so come harvest time: their efforts rarely go unrewarded, and the new wines are a testament to their commitment.
AVAILABLE NOW
SPARKLING
2023 - Shake & Wait Orange - Chardonnay, Kerner, Pinot Blanc
Hand-harvested, varieties were destemmed and macerated for four weeks, bottled in October 2023 to continue fermentation. No disgorgerment, the resulting wine is a lightly frizzante orange, great fun.
WHITE
2023 - Wilder Satz - Field Blend
Bright and fresh, returning to a lighter hue after the more orange-leaning 2022 thanks to lots of pre-harvest rain. The process is the same, varieties macerated between 12 hours to two days, fermentation partly in steel, part in old barrels, assembled shortly before bottling in April 2024.
2019 - Holy Chapel - Pinot Blanc
From one of the oldest sites in Bockenheim. Sitting on the middle of the hill at 240 metres, as Jonas puts it "like a little dent in the mountain." With a chapel still intact among the vines, it has been a special site for many generations, with incredibly vigorous, fertile soils - a loess topsoil with limestone beneath, macerated for 12 hours and aged in old oak for 12 months. The 2019 is profoundly intense and long, stone fruit and salt abound.
RED
2023 - Brand Red - Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Cab Franc, Riesling
Alive and energised in 2023, with a pleasing bit of integrated reduction - varieties undergo carbonic maceration for 10-14 days, fermentation mostly in old barrels (Pinot remains in stainless steel) - one to chill and enjoy in the sun.
