QUICK WINERY FACTS
- Owner: David & PM Hall-Jones
- Grape varieties: Pinot Noir
- Date first planted: 2000
- Size: 14 Hectares>
- Wine labels: Domaine Thomson and Surveyor Thomson.
- Winemaker: Dean Shaw of The Central Otago Wine Company.
- Viticulturist: Simon Gourley.
DOMAINE THOMSON WINES
Domaine Thomson wines has to be one of the most interesting stories in the entire Central Otago region. Not only do they have their vineyard on the shores of Lake Dunstan in the Cromwell-Lowburn subregion, Domaine Thomson also has a vineyard in Gevrey-Chambertin on the Côte d’Or in Burgundy, France – the spiritual home of Pinot Noir. ‘One grape, one vision, two hemispheres’ is their catch phrase.
Owner David Jones has bought a unique international perspective to Central Otago learning in both hemispheres simultaneously to get the best from the Pinot Noir grape. Fortunately for you, there is the opportunity to taste both the Domaine Thomson from the “new-world’ of Central Otago and the ‘old-world’ of Gevrey-Chambertin side by side at our Altitude Tours wine stop at Kinross.
In Lowburn, Domaine Thomson is grown in a single biodynamic vineyard broken into four blocks – the North Block, the Terraces, the South Block and the Moon Block – all certified organic. There is a huge focus on a ‘hands off’ approach to viticulture and hand picking and other processes imported from France provide a real focus on preserving the quality of the fruit. In 2020 their stunning cellar door was opened on this site.
The name, Domaine Thomson, comes from the English Explorer John Turnball Thomson who arrived in New Zealand in 1856 and became the Chief Surveyor of Otago. Thomson produced the first extensive map of the Central Otago interior in 1860 and was very important in constructing many of the bridges and roads out of Dunedin and in designing and planning the siting of Invercargill.
