Brennan Wines - Family-Owned, Handcrafted Excellence
At Brennan, we are entirely family-owned and operated, producing our wines solely from our family-owned single vineyard of thirteen hectares, with all winemaking done onsite. My family and I, Sean Brennan, have been growing the fruit for 30 years, and I began making the wine in 2006. Since then, my co-winemaker, Emma Bennet, joined in 2019. Our shared background in the performing arts has not only brought a fresh vibrance to the winery, ensuring that each day feels theatrical, but also cemented our belief that making great wine is a harmonious blend of science and art with a touch of magic.
We have won numerous awards, including the trophy for Best Red Wine at the IWC in London. Our vineyard features a range of soil types, elevations, aspects, varieties, and clones, which allows us to fully explore our passion for expressing the unique qualities of our land and the wines that reflect it. We believe there is no "ceiling" to great viticulture and winemaking—every season provides an opportunity to deepen our knowledge and better showcase the purity and essence of our terroir.
We are 100% sustainable and work closely with Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand to continually improve our practices. While our main focus is premium Pinot Noir, we are equally passionate about the seven other varieties we grow, as we believe this broadens our understanding of both the craft and the site.
Brennan Pinot Noir
Brennan Pinot Noir is all about expressing the darker, richer, more refined side of Gibbston fruit. Each vintage is based on the careful selection of fruit parcels from our vineyard, followed by individual barrel selection. We aim to highlight the more brooding characteristics that require a little more attention from the consumer and have the potential to cellar for many years.
The 2023 vintage was a "Goldilocks" year, with perfect harmony between ripeness and acidity, bringing out stunning fruit with depth and elegance from the very first day. Our hands-on, yet gentle approach to winemaking allowed us to guide the fruit into wine that we believe is the epitome of Gibbston. Lifted fruit effortlessly transitions into more earthy characters, with a touch of thyme from the surrounding mountains. Lighter toast and fine-grain French oak support the fruit, enhancing the structural elements of the wine.
