our story
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.
The Vineyard
The vineyard gains unique advantages from its Wilyabrup location. John Gladstones’ seminal work in the 1960’s showed that Margaret River had climatic features similar to the great years of Bordeaux. His predictions have been borne out and the Margaret River region is now recognized as one of the premium wine grape growing areas in the world. Wilyabrup has been identified on detailed meteorological studies to be an ideal location for the production of high quality wine.
Wilyabrup has the ideal number of sun exposure days per year for optimal ripening and is surrounded by sea on three sides on the South West cape of Western Australia, allowing the cooling maritime breezes to keep the fruit cool and add intensity of flavours similar to the great years of the Bordeaux region of France. Thompson Estate and its immediate neighbours in Wilyabrup produce some of Australia’s “icon status” chardonnays and cabernets.
It is with some pride and fascination for Peter Thompson, a cardiologist, that Vasse Felix, the first vineyard in Margaret River, and Thompson Estate’s next-door neighbour, was planted in Wilyabrup by Dr Tom Cullity, a cardiologist who was a mentor for Peter.
View a video of Ray Jordan interviewing both Peter Thompson and Bob Cartright here
Our SWA accreditation
At Thompson Estate, we are proud of how we care for the land, our people, and the future of our region. We formalised our commitment to these values by achieving Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) accreditation in December 2022.
Gaining SWA accreditation is rigorous. Every three years, we are independently audited on every aspect of what we do, from how we grow our grapes and manage water and soil health, to our winemaking practices, packaging, and even how we communicate our wines. It takes significant resources, but it is worth the effort. Maintaining our SWA certification is about ensuring we continually improve and hold ourselves to the highest standards.
When you see the SWA logo on a Thompson Estate wine, it’s a mark of trust. It tells you this wine has been made with care for quality, sustainability, and the future of Margaret River.
Our SWA accreditation covers all of our wines across our flagship range we call The Specialist, our Estate range, and our Four Corners range.