Jane and Peter Thompson purchased the Thompson Estate property in 1994, and the first plantings of chardonnay and pinot were in 1997, followed by the cabernet plantings in 1998. New plantings include new Burgundian clones of chardonnay, a total of 20 hectares under vine.
From the outset at Thompson Estate, the focus has been on high quality wine production and this has been recognized in a large number of wine show medals and accolades from the wine press. The most treasured has been the recognition by James Halliday, Australia’s premier wine critic, that Thompson Estate is a Five Red Star winery, placing it in the top echelon of Australian wineries.
The original model of winemaking reflected Peter’s medical background and was based on the medical specialty model of choosing the best specialist to make each wine. This careful selection of specialist winemakers produced some stunning wines, but the management challenge of dealing with wine production in five different wineries became too complex, and a state of the art winery was designed and built on the property. The first vintage in the new winery was 2009.
