Pour the wine and brandy into a deep, medium saucepan and add the sugar.
Split the vanilla in 2 and scrape the seeds out and add to the wine. Cut each vanilla half into 2 also add it to the wine.
Toss in the cinnamon stick.
Bring the whole thing to a simmer on low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
While the wine is coming to a simmer, peel the pears and slice the bottom slightly to create a flat base, so they will stand up when served.
When the wine is simmering and the sugar has dissolved, add the pears to the wine mix, making sure that they are fully submerged, as much as in possible. If not, let's be practical. Instead of adding more wine, just turn the pears around 2-3 times while they are poaching. Simmer on low for 20-30 minutes until the pears are tender but not overly soft. If your pears were pretty soft and ripe to begin with, they'll only need 20 minutes. Use a cocktail stick to test for doneness. It should glide right through the pears.
When done, take the pears out and set aside.
Fish out the cinnamon stick, or strain, if it's in many tiny bits.
Increase the heat to medium and boil the red wine down to a sticky syrup for 10 minutes. Essentially, we want to reduce it by about half. Don't overdo it, as it will thicken considerably as it cools, and if reduced too much, will be too thick to pour.
Place each pear on a serving plate and pour a little of the syrup on the pears. Serve with some ice cream, cream or mascarpone cheese.
Notes
You can reduce the calorie content by not using up all the syrup (there is a lot), and serving it with a half fat cream or even yoghurt. You could also substitute the sugar with stevia. 1 tsp stevia is all you need here.Nutritional information disregards any cream or ice cream that you may be using for serving.