{"id":3575,"date":"2021-05-28T19:36:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T19:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2021-05-28T20:06:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T20:06:08","slug":"winemaker-series-daniel-brennan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=3575","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Series: Daniel Brennan"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Travelling around Hawke\u2019s Bay, you get to realise that it\u2019s a real community of wine people down here, with connections between families, companies and friendships. There\u2019s a few names that keep cropping up as I talk to people \u2013 and today I\u2019m off to Bridge Pa to meet one of those. I heard that Daniel Brennan<\/strong> moved to Hawke\u2019s Bay from America, where it\u2019s alleged he was in a well-known band, and started making some wines that have caught people\u2019s attention. Not just for labels featuring imagery such as a lady riding a whale, but for the wines inside the bottle that are full of personality and flavour. I go in search of answers.<\/p>

Daniel Brennan<\/strong>: You can sit right there, unfortunately we\u2019re doing inventory today, so the big table has all the computers out and everything. This is the home of our growing team. We have an office upstairs as well \u2013 Rachel is up there, our Brand Manager. It\u2019s our way of being able to live here and take over this property \u2013 we live here but we have the home office here as well. Storage in the back and we do private tastings here as well.<\/p>

WineFolio<\/strong>: I\u2019ve specialised in Tourism since I moved to New Zealand, but then I wanted to specialise a bit, and wine is what I\u2019m really passionate about.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Was that always sneaking in to your other stuff?<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Yes, I think so \u2013 I can look back a bit now and say yes it was! (laughs) I used to write a bit more about arts and culture, so this is someway going back to that. I liken it to music. Some people say wine is like art, and I disagree with that. Art can literally be anything, but music, like wine, has a structure \u2013 it delivers something to your senses \u2013 hearing or taste and it has a definite structure. But it\u2019s also personal. You might prefer natural wine or jazz, and I may not, but it has a format that we can both start from. But more of a writer than a critic \u2013 telling stories more than giving opinions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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DB<\/strong>: You\u2019ve come to the right place for stories about music and wine. First to qualify things \u2013 I\u2019m a musician as much as if my buddy who gives me guitar lessons were to make wine in his garage and call himself a winemaker. People say to me \u201coh you used to be in a band\u201d and I say, \u201cNo, I used to manage a band\u201d. So I grew up playing guitar and playing in a couple of bands as kids. One of those guys I was in a band with got back to me when I was at Uni and said \u201cHey I got this thing going on\u201d, and I threw a few big parties. By the time I graduated University, they asked me to manage them. So I Tour managed and Business managed them for about six years. They were from the Bronx New York and we toured all over North America.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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They were already a pretty busy touring band but the likes of Napster and all that made it impossible to sell albums any more, for indie bands.\u00a0That just meant we had to tour more. We were opened up to a whole new audience because of those applications. It changed the game in terms of being able to go into a venue and all of a sudden you don\u2019t sell $1500 worth of CDs at a show. That dwindled very quickly. But all of a sudden people in Colorado and Canada had heard of them, so they got to go and be on some more bills and that. And different bands heard of us. They were a little bit older than me, so when they started to settle down a little bit and having kids, and admitted they had peaked – it just became an impossible way of life to keep touring.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I settled back into my family\u2019s restaurant which had been in the family since prohibition. And when I was a kid it was like a beer and shot bar. Ten in the morning it was packed kind of place \u2013 an ironworkers bar. In fact its nickname was \u2018The Dustbowl\u2019. That was when it was my Father\u2019s uncles. But then my Mother and Father, and my Mother\u2019s brother, which was the Sicilian side of the family \u2013 they bought it. And to this day it\u2019s still a gorgeous place – it\u2019s an Irish-English tavern-looking place. My brother runs it and it has really good cuisine with a Mediterranean twist. A lot of comfort food, kind of that gastropub thing, before it even existed in the early 90s.<\/p>

We always had good wine around when I was a kid. As it turned out my Great Grandfather was actually a winemaker and a cooper; and I didn\u2019t really know that until I moved here and decided to do wine.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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And my grandfather made wine in the basement as most South Philly Sicilians do, but that was pretty much plonk.\u00a0Then I got into wine and there was a WSET at the night school in Philadelphia I was going to, running monthly tastings. And I was blown away by Martinborough Pinot. I know I\u2019m here in Hawke\u2019s Bay but it was actually Martinborough Pinot that got me here. \u00a0And I was just like \u201cWhat is this stuff!?\u201d And overall, New Zealand wine. I was immediately drawn in by Sauvignon Blanc, but then the likes of Palliser, Dry River, Ata Rangi, Escarpment, Martinborough vineyards. I couldn\u2019t get them all either \u2013 I had to drive to other states to go to tastings and stuff.\u00a0And so I went to the guy who owned this place \u2013 The Wine School of Philadelphia \u2013 and I knew he\u2019d been overseas. I really had no idea at this point what \u201cvintage\u201d was. I said I want to do this \u2013 I want to get out of the restaurant. And he said, \u201cYou\u2019d better start studying Chemistry\u201d and said \u2018oh shit\u2019 (laughs). I hadn\u2019t studied that since High School, although I did good in Math and Science, but my first degree was in Political Science and Philosophy. And I read all the time, but I liken it to someone who says \u201cI jog everyday\u2019 and you say \u2018good \u2013 here\u2019s a basketball\u2019. It\u2019s kind of a different muscle you know?<\/p>

That\u2019s exactly what it was like when I moved here but I did look at one other place, which was really far down the line as a second choice, which was Washington State. Because I was looking for up-and-coming cool climate. But I found the school at Hawke\u2019s Bay so I went and did a three year degree here and hit the ground running. I never looked at Davis \u2013 it was too expensive \u2013 and I knew if I was going to be doing Chemistry and Microbiology that it had to be in English. There\u2019s only a few of those special people like Hiro Kusuda who went to Germany and taught himself German. I\u2019m not going to do that, it\u2019s a big enough challenge anyway. I don\u2019t remember ever tasting a Hawke\u2019s Bay wine until I got here. So I kind of moved to Hawke\u2019s Bay sight unseen.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: what do you think you\u2019ve found in Hawke\u2019s Bay that you couldn\u2019t have found, or learnt, elsewhere?<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: I think the range of varietals \u2013 we can ripen Cabernet every year, we do Pinot Noir and amazing aromatic whites. There\u2019s no other region in New Zealand that can do that. Wines that really speak of a place like Syrah. Some really good entry-level Sauvignon Blanc, which is a really big part of my business now.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF: I would agree with that, and I think the Chardonnay from here is really good \u2013 world class to some degree. And you\u2019ve got people like Kumeu River, who make a superb Chardonnay, now making wine from Hawke\u2019s bay vines too.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: I would argue though that Michael is such a force, that that\u2019s probably more producer-driven than, than regional. They\u2019re making some phenomenal stuff already from Hawke\u2019s Bay. They\u2019ve paved the way for New Zealand Chardonnay producers. I started making some of my own in 2018, and it took out top in Cuisine, and it\u2019s doing really good and has added a lot of cache to our Testify range. But it\u2019s pretty limited in what I export. I have that conversation quite a bit with friends who are winemakers here, and export customers too. That in the Grand World of Wine, which is a huge world, we\u2019re a drop in the ocean. Te Mata Coleraine for example, which is a great wine \u2013 if you put that in a line up with other great wines of the world, like some great Italians and Bordeaux.. you\u2019d probably get just as good a Barolo for $50 or $60. My big red wine is pretty far out there – Malbec dominant.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019ve had that quite recently, but I haven\u2019t had the Testify range. And I believe that Ian Quinn gave me a bottle of Chenin Blanc but I haven\u2019t got around to tasting it yet. I was waiting to do a tasting of all the Chenins off his vineyard as he tells me they\u2019re quite different.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DB<\/strong>: They really are. It\u2019s funny, and they\u2019re not super heavy-handed winemaking either, they\u2019re just subtle choices. Amy\u2019s is skin-fermented so that\u2019s got it\u2019s own thing going on, but it\u2019s not like super out there. 2020s will I think be really different because there\u2019s more winemakers making it from there and pickings were further apart. And he\u2019s transitioned the whole vineyard to organics, since last year. My Malbecs are all organic; the Pinot is from a vineyard that\u2019s run organically and dry farmed. It\u2019s happening quick in Hawke\u2019s Bay and we can do it here \u2013 we have the climate to do it. If someone can do it in Gisborne, like James Millton, it\u2019s really humid up there.<\/p>

The Testify Chardonnay you mentioned \u2013 the \u201918, that\u2019s all gone. It\u2019s not really a problem as we held it back, to wait for the range. So we didn\u2019t push that wine at all. Then all of a sudden we got that Cuisine article and we did some events, and boom! Naturally people had tasted it and said \u2018what the hell\u2019s this stuff?\u2019 It\u2019s pretty smoky and flinty but I pulled back on that a little bit more on the \u201919. But the \u201919 has still got some interesting funk to it. It\u2019s just a little more dialled-in for my taste. It\u2019s looking really good. We knew that was coming for a few months \u2013 you know print media \u2013 they called us in July and it came out in October.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I think you make an interesting range already, but is there anything else that you have an idea to try?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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DB<\/strong>: I\u2019d like to do more crunchy reds. I\u2019d like to do something like Gamay or Franc. It just depends what fruit comes up. I really think that\u2019s where the market\u2019s heading as well. New Zealand\u2019s a little bit behind the rest of the world. I started doing that Nouveau in \u201917 and now a couple of years on a few of my mates are doing wines like that.. Young, fresh reds that are real approachable \u2013 crunchy and smashable. We can definitely do that in Hawke\u2019s Bay too. I think there\u2019s a little bit to be achieved in winemaking on that as well. Which varietals you choose and accept what level of green you like, and all that kind of stuff. Certainly Franc and Gamay fit into that. I really believe that Malbec does as well, but that is 13% every year \u2013 pick them a little earlier, fresher, brighter.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Whole bunch as well?<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Some, but my little secret with that is that I do a little bit more maceration so it softens, and I do MLF, so it\u2019s not too much, otherwise it would just be too much, because there\u2019s a lot of acid in Malbec.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Have you got plans for your own vineyard and place?<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Watch this space. We\u2019re trying, yes. Some interesting stuff going on right now, so\u2026 The big player stuff is kind of it\u2019s own thing, but there\u2019s always vineyards for sale around. I would love more of a home base for everything right now. We\u2019d love to be able to have a private Tasting Room. I probably wouldn\u2019t do a big Cellar Door, but we\u2019re looking right now at some places and we\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: I have to say, I\u2019ve heard your name here and there \u2013 seems like appreciation is building, but also when I talk to people in the region as well.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: We\u2019re all mates. Hayden, Amy, Olly and Amy are all friends \u2013 kids go to the same schools.<\/p>

We start to try a few wines \u2013 I ask if we can start on Sauvignon Blanc<\/em><\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Crownthorpe. I\u2019ve been working with this vineyard since 2011, which is the longest time I\u2019ve worked with one. No oak but lots of lees-stirring. That decision was mostly made because of price point. I kind of worked backward. It needs to be poured by the glass in my family restaurant, so start at that point and where does it get us? But most Sauvignon ought to be able to made at that price point.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Most of this goes to the US, and I think they care less about it being strictly Marlborough, and more about it being from New Zealand. At the som level, they kind of have to have a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but they\u2019re excited because they can a be a little bit geeky about it. We get a lot of doors opened because of this wine.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I really like this, it\u2019s one of the best I\u2019ve had in a while. And I like to keep the ones that I discover I really like.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: That\u2019s the big secret. Hawke\u2019s Bay Sauvignon \u2013 third or fourth year in is where it\u2019s at. Canada is currently on our 2017 and we just did a Zoom Tasting with our importers there and they were loving it. In fact, you wouldn\u2019t want to be drinking the 2020s now until maybe at least way through next year. The 19s are just hitting their stride now. The two vineyards for Sauvignon Blanc \u2013 as far as the main part of Hawke\u2019s Bay goes \u2013 couldn\u2019t be further apart. So Crownthorpe and Te Awanga.<\/p>

And this is Viognier \u2013 the first year I did it was \u201816 and I asked him to stop weed-spraying and start converting. Now the vines are finding their balance, cropping a little lower. What happened was in \u201914 I was making a white wine and got a late call \u2018heard you\u2019re after some Viognier\u2019, and I picked up juice basically straight from the press, and the result was a 14.5% Viognier. I can\u2019t do that again. Too phynolic, too alcoholic. Then I found a site that I liked \u2013 it does need heat, and Bridge Pa Triangle is good for that. I didn\u2019t want to dumb it down in any way. I want it to be a varietal wine but still pick a little earlier and let it sit on skins for 8-10 hours before you press. Try and get as much of those oily bits out, you know? But I\u2019m going a bit more for that elegant style of Viognier. Less apricots.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Got a nice lift to that though, and not as fat as many I try. It\u2019s got something similar to \u2013 like a family resemblance to your Sauvignon Blanc even. In style and structure, more than flavour. I like that pithy, slightly tannic finish to it.<\/p>

Speaking of the family \u2013 the labels! Not your average. What\u2019s going on there? I remember the first time I saw them at a tasting at First Glass, which is my local wine shop, and Andrew introduced your wine \u2013 \u201cKingsley was out of the shop for a couple of hours last week, so I took the opportunity to buy some of this wine, and I\u2019ve hidden it from him. Now \u2013 does everyone like this wine? That\u2019s good, because wait until you see the label!\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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DB<\/strong>: Yes, I was up in that shop and they said they weren\u2019t sure about the labels \u2013 but then there was a Cuisine article and after that they said they\u2019d give it a try. It ties in the story with the music thing, with decibel, travel -the juxtaposition with the people, landscapes.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: tell me what\u2019s the difference between these two \u2013 they both have Martinborough Pinot Noir on them, but they look quite different, on the label, to the consumer?<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Same vineyard, this is all focussed on 667, 777 clones, and\u00a0 bit more new oak in that. The Decibel is the classic Martinborough style that I\u2019ve made every year, and the Testify is only in certain years, if I think it\u2019s up to scratch. But also going for a lot more purity of fruit, elegance on that one. The Decibel is going to deliver with some grunt. Sometimes people make their Reserve and they go \u201cit\u2019s bigger, bolder\u201d but with the Testify, it\u2019s more elegant. They are both \u201818s as it is now, but once we get into 2021, the Decibel will pull ahead we\u2019ll sell through it quicker and we\u2019ll be on the \u201918 for Testify for quite a while. So that will pick up bottle age.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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But we\u2019ve done pretty good in previous years as far as holding back vintages and it\u2019s a bit of push and pull. We don\u2019t want to run out of Pinot, but that\u2019s been really tricky because I also don\u2019t release it until it\u2019s been in bottle for about 15 months. So I tend to bottle after about ten months in oak as I like Pinots to have a freshness and a drive to them. I don\u2019t see a lot of benefit in ageing Pinot in barrel for 18-20 months or something like that. But I do see huge benefit to not releasing them for about 15 months! They\u2019re donuts for ages, and by that I mean it\u2019s hollow in the middle. You might taste one after 6 months to confirm your suspicions. You get a hint of the aromatics and there\u2019s nothing wrong with it, but then when you taste it, it\u2019s just got no flow. That was really scary the first couple of years I made Pinot. I though \u2018what the heck happened to my wine \u2013 that\u2019s not my wine\u201d But then it slowly creeps back and usually by August\/September the following year it\u2019s in a really good position.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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And you can almost see the light that the one year in bottle does. But this one, about 6 months ago, had this orange rind thing going on, but that\u2019s really developed now and it\u2019s gone a little bit more caramelised. You\u2019re getting more of the savoury and forest floor and all that kind of stuff. I love the way this wine has changed over the year.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: It\u2019s quite exotic as well. Slightly musky and umami thing happening. I like what you said about the orange rind, because I\u2019m getting blood orange in this \u2013 almost a Seville orange marmalade note underneath.<\/p>

So it\u2019s Martinborough \u2013 whereabouts?<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: Dublin Street, it\u2019s off on its own. I\u2019ve been working with the vineyard since 2016. In \u201916 the old man there, James Brodie had his own label and I just stepped in the first year and I said \u201clet\u2019s just do what you normally do, use the usual cooperages and I\u2019ll just learn, and we\u2019ll make a wine.\u201d And it was good, and we did that.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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And I said \u201cnext year we\u2019ll do what I think we should do\u201d. In \u201916 we made two wines, and I was going to buy up all the fruit from \u201917. Except in \u201917 we picked everything in one day. It\u2019s a 3 hectare vineyard so my plan went to shit because we basically picked between two cyclones. I\u2019m really proud of that \u201917, we got some great reviews and everything, but the \u201918 was the first year I actually did what I wanted. Picked across three and a half weeks. A lot more cap management than he\u2019d ever done and really separated by clones. I\u2019d done years of research on cooperages I really liked \u2013 and I\u2019m still doing that! But \u201918 is the first year it came in line as far as having a plan and being able to stick to it.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: That\u2019s a great wine \u2013 a Martinborough classic style. I like the price of it too. There\u2019s so many $40 Pinots that it\u2019s so crowded.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: The Testify, I thought was ahead of this one for a while, now its slowed down in development and I can see why now, because some of those oak choices are only just starting to flourish.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: OK, that\u2019s odd. On the nose I think you could have passed them off as the same wine. Ish \u2013 a bit different. But massively different on the palate. So cultured, but quite powerful and tense.<\/p>

DB<\/strong>: About 3 months ago I thought \u201cdid I just make a silky, smashable wine?\u201d To me those two Dijon clones \u2013 777 and 667, all on the clay soils, dry farmed. There\u2019s this tension going on, and the perk of those clones, with the fatness of the soils. We\u2019re going to take our time getting them out. I only have four barrels of the \u201919, but I got some fruit from Nga Waka and I\u2019m going to make a different Decibel Pinot as well. Possibly just as an export wine. I love the challenge of working with people \u2013 those people with just a small block, and I\u2019m like \u201ccome with me..\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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