Paul has been in the industry for 25 years plus and we have been lucky enough to have him with us at Thompson Estate for the past 6 years and many more to come. We are all very proud of our winemaker, Paul Dixon who was chosen by the Royal Agricultural Society to attend the Advanced Wine Assessment Course at the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide. We were particularly pleased that the RAS had named the award after John Hanley, The Perth Royal Wine Show’s long standing Chief Judge, a good friend to Thompson Estate and many other Margaret River wineries.
Paul and John are shown together in our winery soon after Paul had completed the course.
From the Busselton-Dunsborough Mail 22/2/17.
“Inaugural award for worthy winemaker
Busselton winemaker Paul Dixon was awarded with a scholarship to attend one of the pre-eminent Wine Sensory Evaluation courses in Australia.
The Royal Agricultural Society of WA awarded winemaker Paul Dixon of Busselton with an opportunity to attend a Wine Sensory Evaluation course in Australia.
Mr Dixon was awarded the scholarship based on his experience, which includes work at Thompson Estate, Vasse Felix and Moss Brothers, with over two dozen awards for the quality of his wine making.
The Advanced Wine Judges Scholarship was developed by the RASWA wine committee to support education in agribusiness.
The RASWA councillor John Snowball said it was a pleasure to have Mr Dixon as the inaugural recipient of the scholarship and that he could not think of someone more deserving and committed to excellence than Mr Dixon.
The scholarship allowed Mr Dixon to attend the 40th Advanced Wine Assessment Course held by the Australian Wine Research Institute in SA.
This course is recognised as a vehicle for training professional wine show judges and was one of the primary developers of Australia’s elite wine sensory analysis and vocabulary capabilities.
The course saw Mr Dixon engage in training with the nation’s leading wine judges and winemakers.
Mr Dixon said it was good to be put into a show situation and to feel the pressure of what it would be like to be judging at the highest level.
“I tasted a huge array of wines and this will be of great benefit when I do wine show judging in WA’s wine producing regions,” he said.”
