Brett Isenhower is the owner and winemaker at Isenhower Cellars in Walla Walla, WA. Brett is a native of rural Lebanon, Indiana. He earned his Bachelor of Pharmacy from Purdue University in 1992. Following his 1995 marriage to Denise, the couple relocated to Boulder, where he completed an MBA at the University of Colorado in 1997. After seven years in the healthcare industry, Brett pivoted to winemaking as a lifelong pursuit and built his expertise through rigorous study and hands-on practice.
Brett is a winemaker with a singular focus on crafting wines that express place, purity, and balance. His minimalist philosophy emphasizes light intervention, careful vineyard selection, and meticulous attention to detail that creates expressive, age-worthy wines. For fun, Brett enjoys road and gravel cycling, working out, and reading. Media Inquiries: brett@isenhowercellars.com | https://isenhowercellars.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
I understand the nature of the question but let me modify to give a better answer. There is not one thing that defines the brand. I cannot say in simple terms why my wife and I get up every day and work. It’s been 27 years. We make the best wine we can afford to make, we sell it for a price that is less than our competitors’, and we try our best to make our customers feel special.
It’s just two people with grit refusing to quit and willing to make tremendous sacrifices to take two steps ahead when a step back is necessary. The story is not unique, or interesting. As I told you I am boring.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
Every winery operates with constraints—financial, logistical, agricultural, regulatory, and personal. In truth, the biggest constraint is often the personality of the owner or winemaker. Small wineries inevitably reflect the people behind them. Wine is a thousand small decisions that add up to a bottle, and the person guiding those decisions becomes part of the experience of tasting the wine. In that sense, wine is the most human of agricultural products.
One regret I carry is never having the resources to plant my own vineyard. Farming runs deep in my family history, but my wife and I chose to invest in our three daughters’ college educations rather than buy land and plant vines. I wish we could have done both.
I believe that the most compelling wines come from excellent vineyards that are thoughtfully farmed with minimal intervention. The vines should be guided, not steered, and the land should be healthier each year than the one before it. In the cellar, the goal is similar: match the vessel—whether amphora, concrete, stainless steel, or carefully selected French oak—to the vineyard and grape variety.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
I do not have a “flagship” wine, or a single wine that says this is what Isenhower Cellars is about. It is like asking me which of my three daughters I love the most. Customers love asking me “what is my favorite wine?”. If they are playful, I flippantly say “the one you are buying”.
I’m fairly agnostic about grape varieties. I simply like wines that taste good, are well-made, and honestly reflect their place and vintage. Wines that are transparent and minimally manipulated tend to be the most compelling.
Like many small producers, I work within financial limits. The wine business is a low-margin, high-passion industry, so I do the best I can with the resources available while staying true to my ethics and philosophy.
For whatever reason, Cabernet Franc seems to work especially well for me. Perhaps the Venn diagram of my winemaking strengths and the nature of the grape just overlaps nicely. I’m not claiming brilliance—just that my approach tends to suit the variety.
I enjoy thinking about how to craft many wines—Viognier, GSM blends, Syrah, Tempranillo, Bordeaux varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, even sparkling wine. And before I retire, I’d love the chance to make Cinsault, Graciano, and Chenin Blanc. Read my Cab France review.
What are your wholehearted convictions related to the wine business? Not about your wines!
In the short run wine is too expensive. The industry is too reactive, too neurotic, and screwed. Wine is a low-margin business that relies on high-net-worth individuals to purchase. Choosing wine is a fun life but not a road to riches. If you want to get rich, invest elsewhere.
Wine is seen as a toxic product that should be banned by the WHO and some countries’ health departments. Health officials are dictatorial and the most boring people ever. They are charter member of the No Fun Club.
Long run, I am positive about the future. Generations change their tastes. Homo sapiens have enjoyed wine for ~12,000 years? We as a species have brought the wine grape vine with us where ever we set down roots. In Genesis the first thing Noah did after the flood was plant a vineyard and get drunk. Probably just a story but drives home the point; we like wine. Wine makes life better than having a glass of water, Coke, or White Claw at dinner. Wine is a connection to the past and a connection to each of us around the table.
Long run we have to improve the quality of the soil. Wine is soil, vine, water, vine, sun, yeast, and human. For too long vineyard (and many other farming enterprises) have mined the soil of nutrients and not managed the soil for the long run. This is changing but has to be accelerated. One can taste the difference in wines that are produced in soils that are balanced and healthy. Proper soil management is a win for today and a wine for the future.