Domaine Thomson: ‘Hottest summer in a century in NZ’

Marked by a heatwave that scorched Central Otago in December and January, the 2018 vintage in the New Zealand wine region experienced what Domaine Thomson’s co-founder called the “hottest vintage in 100 years”.

Domaine Thomson’s vineyards in Central Otago

The unusual heatwave led to a 20% drop in production at the winery, known for its Pinot Noir made from 14 hectares of vineyard in Lowburn, Central Otago, according to Pui Mun Hall-Jones, co-founder and owner of the biodynamically-farmed winery with her husband, David Hall-Jones.

It also made the harvest three weeks earlier than usual, she revealed when speaking to dbHK in Hong Kong. “We had more growing degree days, a 70% increase [over previous year] because it was really warm,” she explained.

For days in January, the temperature peaked at 40C, and one local resident in Christchurch died from the sweltering heat. 

As a result, the harvest came at the beginning of March rather than the usual dates around late March or early April. 

However, this was not the most challenging vintage in recent memory. Five years after founding Domaine Thomson in 2000, the winery suffered severe frost that wiped out 75% of its production for their 2005 vintage, a devastating blow at that time for an aspiring winemaking couple who built the winery on pure passion for Pinot Noir.

“When you start doing it, you don’t realise all the risks”, PM recalled, adding that hail is another climatical challenge threatening winemakers in the area. 

“Luckily,” she interjects, “we have a lake near our winery, and we can irrigate,” commenting on the challenging 2018 vintage.

The huge relief though came in February when rain finally arrived. “Usually when it’s too hot, the berries are really small. The concentration could be good, but sugar levels can be too high. When it started to rain, it really calmed the berries and helped the grapes. At the end of it, we have very good quality grapes and it was harvested early. 2018 turned out to be very good,” she explained.

Continuing, another favourable aspect that helped the vintage was the cool temperature during the harvest, she said, which helped to retain the grapes’ aromas and delicate flavours. “When it’s very hot, the main challenge in the winery is getting the grapes in at the right temperature. We were lucky though with the weather as when the time came to harvest, bearing in mind it was three weeks early for most people in Central Otago, it got much cooler and this meant that the grapes were pretty cool at harvest time and when they arrived at the winery. We did the first harvest at dawn.” she expanded.

By the time the harvest finished, it started to snow in the area, the vintner added, giving an example of the fickle nature of the weather this year.

The winery makes two wines from its Central Otago estate – ‘Explorer’ and ‘Surveyor’. The former uses grapes from the Moon Block planted in 2003, while the latter uses slightly older vines planted in 2000 from its North, South blocks and Terraces Block.

The winery’s name Domaine Thomson is a tribute to David’s great grandfather John Turnbull Thomson, who had surveyed much of the South Island in 19th century and was New Zealand’s first Surveyor General.

Production at the winery hovers usually around 5,000 cases in a normal year, and its wines are exported to Japan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, the UK and the US. At the moment, about 20% of ‘Surveyor’ is sold in Asia and 10% of ‘Explorer’, she revealed. Nonetheless, potential for New Zealand Pinot Noir in the market is promising.