Having spent the greater part of the last decade in the cellars of some of Australia’s most esteemed cool climate wineries, Thomas New has established his second wine label, a dozen years after his first, in an old meat processing plant in Northern Hobart; now a shared winery among three producers.

Brisbane lad, Thomas New studied botany and worked in some of Brisbane’s fine & boutique retail outlets including Cru Bar and Nectar before moving to the Granite Belt to work in vineyards. It was working as Bent Road’s viticulturist that Thomas started his first wine label, La Petite Mort.

After leaving the Granite Belt, Thomas spent a several years at Howard Park before settling in Hobart to make wine at Stefano Lubiana for a few years. It was here that Thomas’ love for Tasmanian fruit began to take hold of his ideas for the future. In 2018 an opportunity arose for Thomas to move back to the mainland to work with Mac Forbes due to a shared love for taught-skinned fruit picked at the cusp of ripeness. While working as winemaker at Mac Forbes, the Tasmanian country continued to call and Thomas felt the need to return to his adopted island home.

Now settled into his corner of his urban winery in Hobart’s northern suburb of Technopark, Thomas’ winemaking is self-described as honest and rustic. HIs corner of the modest winery is little more than a few barrels, basket presses and some tanks - and the very necessary forklift, which takes the place of wine pumps. The wines see spontaneous primary fermentation and Malo follows naturally in spring. Barrels are predominantly old with some new puncheons in the mix. The wines are moved only by gravity and bottled without fining or filtration. Fruit sourcing is articulate and very small scale. It’s too early for leases/contracts as Thomas is in the early stages of his label. His first vintage, here is less than 200 dozen in total production. From little things, big things grow.