Brancott Vineyard, site of the first Sauvignon Blanc plantings in Marlborough and home of Brancott Estate, will also be the home of a permanent installation by New York-based designer, Dror Benshetrit. Titled Under/standing and composed of cutting-edge geometry, Dror’s intricate, sculpture fuses art and science—a reflection of Brancott Estate’s artful winemaking.
“Understanding the science behind winemaking has given us the tools we need to express ourselves creatively through our wine,” said Brancott Estate chief winemaker, Patrick Materman. “This shared use of science to create art is what inspired us to work with Dror Benshetrit, whose combined love of poetry and structure is clear in his work.”
Inspired by a visit to Brancott Estate in 2014, Benshetrit’s eight metre high installation is comprised of 52 individual components that lock together once the flat matrix unfolds into its final position.
“After visiting Brancott Estate and meeting Patrick, I was struck by the level of care and detail that goes into a single bottle of wine—from the cultivation of the vines and harvesting of the grapes through to the fermentation, blending and bottling,” explained Benshetrit. “I wanted to encapsulate that detailed process in a design that both responded to the landscape and symbolised the vineyard’s ongoing transformation.”
As Benshetrit was inspired by the winemaking philosophy of Brancott Estate, Patrick was inspired by the installation design, and has crafted a limited edition wine range titled Reflection.
“One of the elements of Benshetrit’s designs that really resonated with me was how they can be viewed both as a single object and as multiple, interconnected components working together,” says Patrick. “This inspired me to craft wines using multiple individual parcels which all maintain their integrity but also combine into a perfectly balanced, harmonious wine.”
The limited edition Reflection range includes a Sauvignon Blanc/Sauvignon Gris 2016 blend and a Pinot Noir 2015. The packaging for the range is designed by Benshetrit to reflect Under/standing. The limited edition range and the installation join the wine rack Present, which was released in 2015 when the collaboration was announced.
