Thistle Hill will be attending several food and wine fairs in 2008. The dates and venues for these events will be posted soon. Lesley, Lucy and Sally would love you to come and say hello, and to taste our current range of wines.

Recent show success

Thistle Hill has had some great successes in recent wine shows across our full range of wines, as follows:

2007 Mudgee Wine Show

Silver Medals: 2005 Riesling and 2002 Basket Press Cabernet Sauvignon

Bronze Medals: 2005 Chardonnay and 2006 Chardonnay

2007 Organic Wine Show

Bronze Medals: 2005 Chardonnay and 2006 Riesling

2006 Mudgee Wine Show

Gold Medal : 2005 Riesling

Silver Medals: 2005 Chardonnay and 2004 Basket Press Shiraz

Bronze Medals: 2006 Riesling and 2002 Basket Press Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wine Reviews

Thistle Hill has received some excellent reviews from well know wine writers, as follows:

James Halliday's 2008 Australian Wine Companion

James Halliday has included five of Thistle Hill's wines in his excellent 2008 Australian Wine Companion. James only includes wines in this book that have been awarded 85 points or more. The Thistle Hill wines and ratings awarded are as follows: 2005 Riesling (93); 2003 Basket Press Shiraz (89); 2006 Riesling (88); 2005 Chardonnay (87) and 2003 Basket Press Cabernet Sauvignon (87) 

Robin Bradley's 2008 Australian Wine Vintages

Robin Bradley, has given Thistle Hill a five-star rating in the twenty fourth edition of his book, 2008 Australian Wine Vintages. A five star rating equates Thistle Hill as being "the continent's best" and he states, Thistle Hill Vineyard is an extremely impressive Mudgee maker with a limited range of the noble varieties. The wines are notably generous, with both power and elegance in the fruit. The Cabernet and Pinot Noir have five stars, and the Chardonnay and Riesling have four. We have maintained our five-star rating for over 15 editions of the book.

Mudgee wine celebration Every year, we look forward to the annual wine festival in Mudgee, where bellies are full of gourmet delights and glasses are topped up with delicious wines. This year, the Celebration will run from Saturday September 8 to Monday October 1, which makes up arguably one of the most picturesque months in the region. You can expect to see gardens in full bloom, perfect summery days and cool nights, along with the usual flurry of activity around the town. Come out to Thistle Hill and wander around our garden, which will be full of local sculptures and artworks, with a glass of wine and a delicious picnic.

Viticulturist of the Year

Lesley Robertson was awarded the runners-up prize in the first Viticulturist of the Year competition. After a thorough investigation of the vineyard and an extensive interview process, Lesley was awarded the prestigious prize in recognition of her dedication to using organic principles in the vineyard. Lesley believes an organic approach to grape growing yields more fruit-concentrated flavours in the wines at Thistle Hill. You may have seen her being interviewed on the ABC's Landline program as part of this competition.

David Jones

You can now purchase Thistle Hill wines in the organic section of David Jones Food Halls nationally. We are one of only two organic vineyards to be selected by the David Jones wine selectors.

Wine Dogs

Millie and Molly, the resident Labradoodles may have already greeted those people lucky enough to have visited Thistle Hill's cellar door in the last four years. Molly is famous for her good looks and shaggy beard, whereas Millie has mastered the art of climbing a grapevine and eating her favourite fruit grape by grape. The girls, as they are affectionately called, have appeared in the book Wine Dogs the dogs of Australian wineries, published by McGill Design Group. From this press Millie and Molly went on to star in a two hour Japanese television program, Pochi-tama on TV Tokyo. Let's hope all this fame doesn't go to their heads!