By Aly Forsyth.
It all started with my brother being hit in the face with a cricket bat in primary school (fielding at extra silly, mid-on wasn't the smartest move. And it wasn't me who hit him - for the record). It’s a moment that stuck with Brian Kent (now Frankland Estate Winemaker), who grew up in the leafy suburb of Greenwood with me.
Years later, after high school, Brian and I reconnected over a beer on a uni break and as happens, our paths diverged: Brian to New Zealand to study Oenology in Christchurch, while I headed to Sydney.
We reconnected on a visit to the South Island, which proved pivotal. Brian introduced me to a tiny wine shop in Christchurch where blind tastings were run for a room full of enthusiastic young people. It was my first real experience with wine: it was engaging, generous and accessible and it sparked something that stayed with me. A week in Cromwell, with visits to Bannockburn, where producers like Felton Road were just finding their feet, fuelled my interest.
Then later, back in WA, Brian took up a role as Assistant Winemaker in Frankland River and went on to join Frankland Estate, the pioneering Great Southern winery founded by Barrie and Judi Smith, who would soon become family when Brian met and married Lizzie Smith.
My connection to Frankland and this family deepened over time. Long weekends in the region and the annual Flowering of the Vine long-table lunch became tradition, and time spent tasting with Judi and the late Barrie Smith remain some of my fondest wine memories.
The Frankland team was pivotal in my own, professional wine story (a vintage with Brian in 2017 gave this move momentum). And, it's a path that eventually led me to Old Bridge Cellars in North Fremantle.
Not only has my relationship with the Frankland Estate family blossomed over time, but it has grown to incorporate my Old Bridge family too via a collaboration with Jay that led to Malo Halo: a deliberately softened Chardonnay made from organically grown fruit from Frankland Estate. (The wine was designed to show another side of the vineyard through malolactic fermentation.)
This week, we’ll be tasting the latest iteration of Malo Halo from the 2023 vintage with Brian and Lizzie in store, alongside the Frankland Estate Chardonnay, something we’ve never poured side by side before. I’m also particularly looking forward to the 2023 Estate Shiraz, a clear expression of what was a stellar Great Southern year.
To think, all of this might never have happened if my brother hadn’t copped a bat to the face all those years ago!
