David Franz 10 Items

David Franz Lehmann was brought up surrounded by, in fact immersed in a household totally focused on wine. Having the late great legend Peter Lehmann and his wife Margaret as parents saw to this. However, way back when, David was determined to do his own thing and this meant anything but the family business, and he took a very circuitous path around the world before establishing his eponymous winery. The thoroughly unique wine labels stem from an incomplete university degree in graphic design. Dave’s first vintage was with St. Hallett under the watch of Peter Gambetta (now senior winemaker at Yalumba). Thereafter, he lined up a vintage in the South African wine region of Paarl, just north of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. When he returned to his beloved homeland of Barossa in 1998, David squeezed in a little bit of his own winemaking for the first time with his brother, and the first David Franz wines were born. According to Dave, the ’98’s are “absolutely awesome” wines and set the production template, the basics of which are still unchanged today. After the ’98 vintage he went to work full time as a vineyard hand for his father. (His mum and dad reckoned that he needed to start at the bottom). He spent much time in the vineyards at the grass roots level, absorbing the rhythms and learning the vines. In 2000, David managed to convince his dad to back him for a more serious vintage. He used the facilities at Peter Lehmann Wines to make his own reds, simultaneously working on the PLW vintage. Until 2003, he worked his dad’s vineyards and made his own wines at PLW. However in the years following, he’s managed to set up his own shop with a little help – as David says, “hey Dad, can I borrow some dosh?” – and launched with Shiraz and Cabernet. He now makes a veritable cornucopia of wines since those humble ‘shed built’ beginnings…. Nine or so years ago he made it a little personal mission to try something new every year, and so each year he has made a little more in both quantity and in variety.