Thistledown Wine Company
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We deliver Australia wide.  Free shipping on 12 or more bottles (otherwise $15).     

THE PEOPLE

Our People

Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, shared vision for a more elegant, textural interpretation of Australian wine. With access to many of the best vineyards, and winemaking by Giles, Thistledown champions South Australia’s old vine Grenache and have quickly garnered a reputation for being amongst the best in the country.


Giles and Fergal met in a bar the night before they began the first year of the Master of Wine course in 1998. Both subsequently passed the exam and eventually came to work together, founding Thistledown in 2010.


Both share a degree in history, a love of Australian wine and the cause of the underdog. Both also shared a frustration that, in many markets, Australian wine was stereotyped as big, alcoholic, and unsuited to premium restaurants. Both knew that this didn’t have to be the case and set upon a journey to create wines of elegance, detail and balance.


We source our fruit from many of the best sites in the iconic regions of South Australia. We nurture relationships with growers in each of our chosen regions - those who are committed to sustainable viticulture that allows the fruit to freely express itself.

Giles Cooke MW

Founder and Winemaker
Giles has travelled the world buying wine and creating engaging new products. But something has always drawn him back to Australia, where much of his early travel in the wine trade was done. Having met Fergal over a beer on the evening before the Master of Wine 1st year course, there was a certain inevitability that they would, one day, make wine together.

As well as passing the MW exam at the first attempt, Giles has winemaking experience in Spain, California and Australia - along with extensive consulting to wineries on wine styles and packaging. A Grenache tragic, he's pretty much obsessed with bringing Australian Grenache to the world stage.

Giles Cooke MW

Founder and Winemaker
Giles has travelled the world buying wine and creating engaging new products. 
The driving force behind Thistledown, Giles has travelled the world buying wine, consulting on packaging and winemaking. Although his first love is Spain, something has always drawn him back to Australia, where much of his early travel in the wine trade was done. 
Splitting his time between Australia and the UK, Giles has his hands in most of the pies. Working with all the growers, running harvest, creating winemaking specs and packaging, he is not one to rest easily!

Fergal Tynan MW

Founder
Having kissed the blarney stone at an early age, Fergal's trajectory through wine has been hard and fast with extensive travel throughout Europe, South America and Australia. Like Giles, regular, long exposures to Australian wine have led to an enduring love for the wines, people and regions that, in the end, lured him into the actual making of it. Fergal became an MW in 2004.

Fergal Tynan MW

Founder
Having kissed the blarney stone at an early age, Fergal's trajectory through wine has been hard and fast with extensive travel throughout Europe, South America and Australia. 
Fergal is CEO of UK based Alliance Wine and, like Giles, has had regular, long exposures to Australian wine which have given him an enduring love for the wines, people and regions that make Australia such a wonderful country in which to make wine. 

Peter Leske

Winemaking Consultant
Peter is a well known face in Australian wine, having had a high profile career working for the likes of Nepenthe, Grosset and Domaine Dujac in Burgundy. In 2012, Pete bought back the old Nepenthe winery in Lenswood, Adelaide Hills and re-named it Revenir. Well equipped with all the toys needed to make brilliant small batch wine, this is the home for Thistledown and where Pete is based full time.

A brilliant winemaker, capable of juggling all manner of issues at harvest time and an all-round good egg, Pete is fundamental to the quality of what we make at Thistledown.
Patrick Gilhooly, Director
Paddy Gilhooly
Director of Sales
The combination of year backpacking in Australia in 2003, working for a Burgundy importer in Melbourne, then doing vintage in the beautiful Yarra Valley, inspired Paddy’s passion for a full time career in wine.

After holding various commercial wine sales roles and achieving his WSET Diploma, Paddy relocated to Australia in 2014 to work with Thistledown.

Since 2014, as Director of Sales and all around brand champion, Paddy has opened various markets internationally and increased Thistledown’s distribution in Australia. 
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