Thompkin Cellars is dedicated to producing a limited number of premium, small-lot wines, with grapes sourced from select vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Current production consists of a Cabernet Franc based wine (Couchant), a Syrah from the Thompson Vineyard in Los Alamos, a Grenache from the Thompson Vineyard, and a Rhone varietal blend (3ie Degré).
Given our philosophy that wine is ultimately made in the vineyard, we have a very hands off approach to production once the grapes are picked. Use of indigenous yeast (when possible), slow, cool fermentations, minimal racking and no fining or filtration prior to bottling, helps assure that the fruit and the land express themselves fully.

Thompkin Cellars is a small, family-run winery located in Costa Mesa, California. Working closely with small, high quality vineyard owners, we aim to produce small-lot, handcrafted, affordable wines that express the best of what California (and in particular, Santa Barbara County) has to offer.
2001 marked the commercial debut for the winery. The first three vintages focused on producing “Couchant”, our proprietary blend. 2003 saw our first expansion, introducing a Syrah and in 2004 our first Grenache was produced. The 2005 vintage helped us round out our lineup with a Rhone blend "3ie Degré".

We hope that you enjoy our wines.

“What is better than to sit at the end of a day and drink wine with friends -
or substitute for friends”

Jeff Dobkin/Julie Thompson-Dobkin
Owner/Winemakers

Thompson Vineyard
(Los Alamos, California):
The Thompson vineyard consists of 37 planted acres from which we source our Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Estrella clone Syrah.

Located in Los Alamos the vineyard consists of steep hillsides and south facing exposures. In our opinion, the fruit from this vineyard is the perfect balance of quality and quantity. Naturally cropped at 2-3 tons per acre and expertly managed by Ben Merz and Jeff Newton. Warm, but not too warm during the days, and cool at night, the grapes get enough hang time to express qualities that are very unique to this vineyard.