Cut Loose with Thommo

2020 a challenging year for everyone, to say the least. Now that things are on the improve we reckon it's time to cut loose, and what better excuse is there than to celebrate the release of another outstanding vintage of Hunter Valley Shiraz.

In true "Thommo style" Andrew Thomas will be showcasing a 'sneak preview' of the full range of his outstanding 2019 Shiraz. He's hitting the road in April for a Thomas Wines Club Member's tour, hosting dinners in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney, and then the official release day lunch in Pokolbin on Saturday 1st May.

Whilst the Pokolbin Lunch and Mode Kitchen + Bar Dinner on 13 April is fully booked, we'd love you to join us in Brisbane, Melbourne or at the newly released Mode Kitchen + Bar Dinner on Monday 12th April.

With some restrictions still in place numbers are limited.

The Dinners and Lunch will include four courses, perfectly paired with the full suite of 2019 Shiraz (with a couple of extra wines thrown in for good measure.....)

09/03/2021 at 4:05 PM Permalink

Save the Date - our tour dates for the 2019 Shiraz Release Dinners

It's time to cut-loose & hit the road to release our range of 2019 Shiraz.
Whilst we are finalising the details we thought you might like to SAVE the date so that once we have the events live, you will have gathered your friends and will be ready to book to join us.

The Dinners will include a four courses, paired with the to be released 2019 range of Shiraz and will be hosted by Thommo.

Here's the line-up

• SYDNEY – Tuesday 13 April – Mode Kitchen and Bar
• BRISBANE – Wednesday 14 April - Walter’s Steakhouse
• SYDNEY – Wednesday 21 April – Pilu at Freshwater
• MELBOURNE – Thursday 22 April – Juliet Melbourne
• POKOLBIN – Saturday 1 May - Yellow Billy Restaurant

Tickets and full details will be available via the website in the near future.

After the past crazy 12 months we can't wait to cut-loose and catch up with everyone.

12/02/2021 at 3:53 PM Permalink

Taste the Juice in Cellar Door

Vintage 2021 is in full swing with the last of the Braemore vineyard harvested today.

It's a great time to visit the Valley, so much action and excitement with bright colours of pickers in the vineyards, huge mechanical harvesters & tractors on the roads & the wineries buzzing with action as they bring the grapes in.

Whilst the winery is not on site at Cellar Door (it's about 1km down Hermitage Road) we love to share the vintage experience with daily tastings of freshly crushed juice and ferments. It gives our guests a taste of what's to come with an explanation of what is happening each day.

This photo is pure semillon juice from the Braemore Vineyard.
When we first crush and press it, it is iridescent green and full of pulp (per glass one); we then pump it to tank to let all the pulp/solids settle. The 2nd glass is the juice after day two, such purity, and still just juice, there is no alcohol here. Glass three is a wine that has been inoculated and has started fermentation, the cloudiness is the yeast hard at work converting the sugras to alcohol, the by product of which is CO2.
We currently have juice and/or ferments available to taste as part of our Cellar Door experiences. BOOK YOUR TASTING HERE.

05/02/2021 at 12:35 PM Permalink

Vintage 2021

After a nervous start Vintage 2021 is officially underway for Thomas Wines.

As a general rule our harvest starts on the Australia Day weekend and this year was true to form. “The OC” Semillon was harvested on Monday 25th January, with “Fordwich Hill” close behind; “Braemore” harvest began on Wednesday 27 January.

“After several years of drought the wetter start to the 2021 vintage had us nervous” said Thommo, “but we dodged a bullet with the last couple of weeks of warm to hot days ripening the fruit and producing good flavours”.

The pickers will be hard at work in the Braemore vineyard finishing mid next week, with a week’s break before the Shiraz harvest begins.

29/01/2021 at 12:40 PM Permalink

Wine Country Holiday Planning

A trip to Wine Country takes a little more planning these days. The benefit is, you do all the work before you leave home so you can relax when you get here.

Here's a few tips for your post-Christmas getaway to the Hunter Valley

• It’s one of our busiest times of the year so bookings are essential, everywhere
• There’s a huge range of accommodation from quaint cottages to large resorts; in the vineyards, in nearby towns & off the beaten track. Make sure your accommodation is not located too far from the areas you want to spend most time
• Book your restaurants – breakfast, lunch & dinner - or arrange some inhouse catering or gourmet hampers to kick back at “home” with a glass of newly found wine and enjoy the tranquility
• Cellar Door experiences require bookings & are in time slots, it can be a bit of a jigsaw working out the day’s itinerary. To maximise your experience book your day in a logical sequence & timeframe
• Add travel time between bookings/venues

Frequently asked questions for a Thomas Wines Visit

• Are bookings essential? During these busy times, yes they are, we hate having to turn people away.
• How do I book? It’s easy. All details, timings, costs & bookings are via the website
• Are you dog friendly? We sure are, we love welcoming furry family
• Do you have food platters to accompany your tasting experiences? No, we don’t but there are some great restaurants nearby
• Do I need to stick to the booked time slot? Yes please, it allows us time to spoil you (& our other visitors) & allows cleaning between visits

We can't wait to see you 😊

16/12/2020 at 10:04 AM Permalink

Top 20 of 2020 - Max Allen

For those wise, and quick enough, to grab some of the limited supplies of 2020 Braemore Semillon ...

Max Allen today listed the 2020 Braemore Semillon in The Australian Newpaper in his top 20 wines of 2020. Due to the limited supplies made, the 2020 Braemore Semillon has since sold out.

The full Top 20 list can be found here.

01/12/2020 at 4:01 PM Permalink

We've got you covered for Christmas and the holiday season

This is the time of year to catch up with friends and family, and to head away on well-deserved holidays.

It's time to purchase Christmas gifts, to reward and thank team workers and customers, and to top the Cellar with wines for the beach, the pool, the BBQ and the Christmas table.

To make entertaining, holidaying and gift buying that little bit easier we've created a few gift packs, dozens and six packs. There are packs for the enthusiast or a fun long lunch; packs for sipping whilst on holidays; collectable gift boxed magnums and double magnums. 

Thommo's raided the cellar and put together Thommo's Holiday dozen, a mix of his current drinking favourites. It includes a selection of current releases, vibrant and fresh in their youth, with a couple from the cellar with a few year's bottle age and secondary aged characteristics coming through.

If you'd prefer to customise a pack please contact us and we'll assist you to create the perfect mix, we'll even add a Thank you or Christmas card with a personal message.

Find the full gift selection here

19/11/2020 at 8:53 AM Permalink

Provenance - "A Record of Ownership used as a Guide to Authenticity"

The Hunter Valley is world renowned for producing uniquely regional wine styles, particularly from the signature varieties of the region; Semillon and Shiraz. The very best examples of these wines have remarkable longevity, offering some serious long term cellaring potential. To that end, we hold back some very limited ‘museum’ stock of the best vintages, primarily destined for future promotional and marketing purposes, and occasionally offered for
sale exclusively to our Cellar Door customers.

Whilst you may occasionally see some back vintage Thomas Wines appear on the secondary/auction market, the problem is not knowing exactly where the wine has been, and how well it’s been cellared. All the wines offered on our 'Provenance List' have been bottle-aged in our climate controlled cellars and then transferred to our purpose installed wine cabinets, so you can be assured of their quality and provenance.

The list is regulalry updated and at the time of publishing includes iconic wines and vintages such as

• Braemore Semillon dating back to 2008
• Kiss Shiraz back as far as 2004
• 2010 DJV Shiraz 
• 2011 Sweetwater Shiraz

For those wanting to explore current releases against aged vinatges, we have curated a Single Vineyard Shiraz Provenance Six Pack. This pack is available from our website here.

Each vintage we produce limited edition of exactly 100 Magnums and exactly 12 Jeroboams of our flagship single vineyard wines Braemore Semillon and Kiss Shiraz. Each of these large format bottles are individually numbered, providing some rare and exclusive gems for the serious wine collector and are also available from the Provenance List with limited vinatges available from the website here.

The full Provenance List is available in Cellar Door or contact Rowena (02) 4998 7134 or email cellardoor@thomaswines.com.au

16/09/2020 at 11:08 AM Permalink

Vintage 2020

First things first, I want to address the elephant in the room – smoke taint.
Whilst the unprecedented bushfires across NSW earlier this year did not directly impact any vineyards in the Hunter, it is true that many vineyards were impacted by the smoke that drifted into the Valley from the west.

Most winemakers in the Hunter (myself included) went to extraordinary lengths with pre-harvest micro-fermentations and submitting grape samples to the Australian Wine Research Institute for smoke taint panel analysis. Clearly, we needed to do our due diligence to make informed decisions on which vineyards were clear and which proposed too much of a risk to even consider harvesting.

From all the data that we as a region collected, it became evident that the physical location of each vineyard within the region dictated the level of potential issues associated with smoke. In particular, many of the vineyards out at Broke that were surrounded by fire were most highly impacted, and those vineyards tucked in closer the Brokenback range within central and southern Pokolbin were also impacted, albeit to a lesser degree. It seems the smoke tended to ‘hug’ the range at its thickest, and those vineyards further away were impacted by a much lesser or to no extent at all.

The downside of this (the bad news) is that I did have to make the difficult decision to walk away from some of our favourite vineyards this year, both Semillon and Shiraz. As a result, my production this year is down by about 60% of what we would normally expect to bring in. Of course, the ongoing drought conditions had an influence on this also. The flip side (good news) is that the small volume of fruit I did pick this year was excellent, as are the resultant wines I have made from them.

BUY SEMILLON

31/08/2020 at 8:39 AM Permalink

It's the first of Spring and time to release our 2020 range of Semillon

Whilst the unprecedented bushfires across NSW earlier this year did not directly impact any vineyards in the Hunter, it is true that many vineyards were impacted by the smoke that drifted into the Valley from the west. Thommo addresses the  elephant in the room - smoke taint. Read more here.

To hear a few words from Thommo - click here

2020 Braemore Semillon 

Braemore is the only Hunter Valley single-vineyard Semillon I have bottled from 2020. In fact, Braemore was the only Hunter Semillon vineyard that I picked this year. Unfortunately, due to its proximity to the fires, the Fordwich Hill vineyard was definitely highly impacted by smoke and even the Oakey Creek vineyard was deemed too risky in terms of potential smoke taint.

The 2020 Braemore is wonderfully bright and vibrant, with the purity of citrus fruit and structural precision and energy that we have come to expect from this pedigree vineyard over the years. With the impact of the drought on our yields, I have only bottled a small quantity of Braemore this year, but those lucky enough to get their hands on some before it sells out will be delighted I'm sure.

I see no issues at all in the glass regarding smoke, but to be absolutely sure I have had the finished wine analysed by the AWRI. The volatile compounds that contribute to smoke taint are below analytically detectable levels, and the bound glycosides (those that may covert to volatiles with time in bottle) are only just above background levels expected in wines that have had no exposure to smoke.

I will watch with interest as this wine ages, and of course there is a minor risk, but my gut feeling is there will be no issues at all. In any case, the wine is so delicious I expect it will take some considerable willpower not to drink it all up as a youngster… The wine will be officially released 1st September.
 
2020 Joe’s Block Semillon

From adversity comes opportunity and innovation….

Clearly, only having one single vineyard Semillon in 2020 was going to leave a gaping hole in my range. Then I thought to myself… The Barossa has some pretty good Semillon vineyards, why don’t I take a look at that? After consulting my great mate Reid Bosward (Boz) from Kaesler, he found an awesome patch of Semillon, and here we have our very first single-vineyard Barossa Semillon.

Joe’s Block, owned and operated by Jim and Cheree Boehm, is situated on the deep alluvial loam soils of the Barossa’s Light Pass district. The 1.7Ha block was planted in 1983. Like many Australian wine regions, the Barossa was also in the grips of quite a severe drought, receiving only 40% of its average long term rainfall ahead of the 2020 growing season. The lower yields were offset by a coolish end to the ripening period, leading to a slightly later picking date of 19th February.

The hand-picked fruit was sent into Kaesler wines for whole bunch pressing, and then the chilled juice was transported to the Hunter for fermentation. As a salute to the traditional Barossa style, half of the wine was fermented in used French oak Hogsheads (300L), the other half in tank providing an excellent stylistic contrast to our classic Hunter style.

Light to medium straw in colour. There's a citrus core to the aromas, but with underlying melon and perfumed blossom characters providing a riper feel to the nose. Also a faint grilled nuts and brioche complexity from the subtle oak maturation. Bright and fresh, the palate has attractive lemon curd and stone fruit characters, a gentle acidity and a slightly chalky texture which are all wrapped up within a light to medium-bodied frame.

2020 Synergy Semillon

The smart money is on the Synergy Semillon this year....
This wine is normally a blend of various old vine Semillon vineyards, but having only picked Braemore this year, the 2020 Synergy Semillon is 100% Braemore Semillon.

Obviously, I have selected the very best parcel from the vineyard to bottle as the single-vineyard Braemore Semillon, but then I blended all the other parcels together for the Synergy Semillon blend. Of course, I also sent this wine off for smoke panel analysis, and not unsurprisingly the results are pretty much exactly the same as the Braemore Semillon bottling.

Slightly riper at 11.5% alcohol (compared to 11.0% for the Braemore), this wine has that extra level of generosity and fruit sweetness and slightly gentler acidity that we have come to expect with this label, making it a delicious every day drinking Hunter Semillon at a great value for money price.

2013 Cellar Reserve Braemore Semillon

I have been looking forward to the release of this wine for such a long time. Last year I made the decision to hold this vintage back for an extra 12 months, and released the (awesome) 2014 Cellar Reserve one year ahead of schedule.

A decision that is now paying dividends. This wine is now in a beautiful drinking window having emerged with those amazing bottle aged toasty complexities, yet still has the freshness and vibrancy of youth defying the seven years of time in bottle. Make no mistake, we will still be in awe of this wine as it continues to evolve over the next 10-20 years. The Halliday Wine Companion lists the 2014 Cellar Reserve at 97 points and included the wine in the “Best of the Best” Semillons of the year. The 2013 Braemore received 97 points back in 2014, yet received 94 points when tasted again last year. Interesting…

I’ll say this on the record…. The 2013 vintage Braemore Semillon is THE BEST vintage I have produced in the 21 years of making wine from this iconic vineyard. Awarded 12 Trophies and 21 Gold medals to date.

These new release wines will be available to purchase via our Cellar Door or online here from Tuesday 1st September, 2020.

Now that we have you interested.... BUY  our Semillons here

31/08/2020 at 8:27 AM Permalink