I have always loved wines made from Thompson Vineyards. Had a 2004 Copain tonight that was just f**king incredible. I have several bottles from Ojai made from Thompson grapes. 2000 Special Bottling which is a pretty rare wine. I had one a few years ago and it was so amazing. Does anyone know what other producers makes wine from Thompson? Do they make wine from their own fruit?
Probably the most notable is Jaffurs. They also do a petite from Thompson grapes. They used to bottle their own wines under the Bedford-Thompson label; not sure if that is around these days. They tasted those wines out of an old farm house in S Barbara County. They may have a tasting room in downtown Los Alamos now. Wines from Thompson grapes are on the big side. Maybe Larry S can give an update.
The Thompson Petite Sirah is one of the best coming out of California. There are a lot of older Thompson bottlings on CT.
/quote]The Thompson Petite Sirah is one of the best coming out of California. There are a lot of older Thompson bottlings on CT.[/quote]
So they do make their own wine?
The Tensley Thompson syrah is always great.
I worked with Thompson Vineyard fruit from 2001-2006, as the Assistant Winemaker for Bedford-Thompson. I’ve always felt the Estrella clone Syrah from that site was some of the best on the Central Coast. The vineyard has new ownership now, who have shown themselves to be good stewards, and necessary improvements and updates are being made. Cab Franc was grafted over to Grenache Blanc (wisely). There has to be at least a dozen labels buying their grapes. Thompson is on the pricier side not only because of a well earned reputation for quality, but the older 9 ft row spacing is hard to pencil out. In addition to Jaffurs, Ojai, and Tercero, the following have vinified Thompson vineyard fruit.
Babcock
Tensely
Beckmen
Palmina
Sanguis
SQN (now owns what was the “new” Thompson section)
Ken Brown
Andrew Murray
Dragonette
I’m sure this list is incomplete and outdated.
So they do make their own wine?[/quote]
I was replying with the quote regarding the Jaffurs’ Thompson PS.
The relatively young couple that purchase the vineyard, Noah and Tamara, are really wonderful folks and their vineyard manager is top notch. They are starting to make some of their own wine - or should I say that they’ve had a few different winemakers make wine for them. Not sure where this is leading.
The vineyard sits in a great ‘sweet spot’ for rhone varieties - enough so that as someone mentioned above, Manfred purchased what used to be called Tres Burros and originally was part of the same Thompson Ranch.
I’ve always joked that they should call the vineyard ‘Jaffurs’ due to the relationship that Craig Jaffurs and David Yates had with David Thompson. Not sure what the future holds with regards to that.
I do not believe that Adam from Ojai gets fruit from here anymore - I think he ceased getting it about 6 or 7 years back IIRC. That said, I’m not sure if he’s been enticed into getting it anymore.
I have received Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre from the vineyard sporadically. I bottled a stand-alone 2013 Mourvedre from there - 100% whole cluster and 34 months in older FR oak - that I’ll release in another year or so.
Cheers.
I`m a big fan of Thompson Syrah from Jaffurs over all the years. There is definitely a vineyard character that stands out and shines and sustains. Craig has stated many times that of all the fruit he has accessed for Syrah, Thompson is the best.
I just posted TNs for 13 Petite Sirahs including 4 made by Jaffurs from this vineyard. All were fabulous with a common thread of spicy pepper accenting the plum, blueberry and blackberry fruit.