Domaine Thomson

Domaine Thomson was established in 2000, when David and PM Hall-Jones purchased a block in New Zealand's Central Otago and named the venture after David's great-great-grandfather, John Turnbull Thomson, the 1850s surveyor who mapped much of the region and named landmarks including Mount Aspiring and the Lindis Pass. The couple's first plantings were a mix of Davis and Dijon Pinot Noir clones, chosen out of a shared love of Burgundy, on an elevated site above the Cromwell Basin with sweeping views over Lake Dunstan and the Pisa and St Bathans ranges.

Farmed organically and biodynamically since 2011, the estate produces a small range built around Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, labelled Explorer and Left Bank Clutha respectively in reference to Thomson's surveying legacy along the Clutha River. The approach favours minimal cellar intervention, allowing the site's cool nights and free-draining schist soils to shape wines with a genuine sense of place.