Winemaker wants to be a caveman

DIGGING IN: Winemaker Sean Brennan stands in the hole that will hopefully soon become a "wine cave''. 

 He might not be Batman, but winemaker Sean Brennan will soon be the owner of his very own cave.

The Gibbston Valley winery Brennan Wines has applied for resource consent to convert an outlying shed into a winemaking facility and to build a "cave" to store their wine in.

Mr Brennan said if the application was approved he would build the storage room and cover it with soil, creating a cave that he would plant over with grasses.

The site had no electricity connection and used a generator so the cave would provide a constant temperature to store barrels in without needing power, Mr Brennan said.

The cave would also be available for visitors to look at, which was in keeping with the theme of the winery, he said.

A tasting room opened last year and a new picnic area with a playground for children was available for people to use, he said.

Rather than a big commercial wine tour where everything was regimented people could come to Brennan to relax and learn about the wine from the person who made it, he said.

"If you're spending $40 on a bottle of wine you want to know who's behind it, where it came from ... and that's where the idea of the tasting room came from so people can come here and get more of an idea of what we're doing," he said.

"It's really about giving people the ability to come in and enjoy the wines in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere."

If given the go-ahead by the council the cave should hopefully be completed for the coming vintage in about four months, Mr Brennan said.