Future Perfect’s birth came from a small revelation on the part of label owner and winemaker Thomas New. “I’ve worked for numerous operations over the years, and I must confess that I was never very happy at any of them,” New says. “I always thought my unhappiness was their (the employers’) fault. Then I think it must have been at my tenth job or something that I realised I was probably just a shit employee and would be better off working for myself.” He adds: “That’s a tough epiphany.”
New’s pathway to winemaking has been anything but conventional. He entered the field via his background as a trained botanist and ecologist, working in vineyards before becoming one of the founders of La Petite Mort in Queensland’s Granite Belt. “With no training in either vineyard management or winemaking, I purposely pursued work in different regions with varying styles of operations,” New says, which kicked off a global wine pilgrimage – working with a spectrum of producers, large to small, and from Margaret River to Tasmania to the Wachau in Austria and Sonoma in California. “At every producer and with every vintage, I’ve picked up approaches and understandings, a lot of which guides me in what not to do, but has also heavily influenced my winemaking philosophy and approach,” he adds.
During those travels, New discovered a love for making cool-climate wines, which lured him back to Tasmania – a full-circle moment that connects his winemaking with his life before wine. “I fell in love with Tasmania initially for the hiking and nature in my teens,” he says, “and after getting into wine I realised cool climates were my slice of the pie. After working in multiple regions around Oz I came to the conclusion that for my approaches and ideas around winemaking Tassie was the place.” Here he crafts a tight collection of wines from mostly Derwent Valley fruit, focusing on pinot noir and chardonnay, with the odd foray into other regions and varieties (most recently Pipers Brook riesling and Coal River Valley shiraz).
“I realised I was probably just a shit employee and would be better off working for myself. That’s a tough epiphany.”
New summarises his project as “Small batch wines made sensitively, expressing the land, environment and people involved in making them whilst keeping drinkability and enjoyment at the forefront.” In practice, this means working with a light touch and minimal intervention in the cellar – spontaneous ferments, with malolactic conversion following naturally in spring, predominantly old oak for elevage, no pumps, no fining or filtration – although New doesn’t stick rigidly to any given winemaking school. “There’s no rules in winemaking as far as I’m concerned, which is what makes it so interesting,” he says. “Maybe the closest is to not force wines to be something they’re not.” Not forcing his wines requires “patience, particularly with cold cellars,” New says. “Wines are living things and need time to go through all the seasons to find resolution.”
It sounds simple on paper, but the work involved in realising this philosophy keeps New plenty busy. “For me it’s the perfect balance between science, nature and creativity which is satisfying,” he says. Take the process behind Future Perfect’s 2023 OOO Pinot Noir as an example: “the decision to leaf pluck a few rows, make an extra pass to drop fruit and harvest a little later on a block of Pommard clone pinot noir at Brownwood Vineyard (which I had a lease on at the time) lead to a wine I was pleased with,” New says. It’s an approach that sees small incremental changes building on each other to add finesse every vintage.
A warming climate is a challenge, albeit one that Tasmania is better positioned to withstand than other regions. “We’re a little buffered from serious effects thus far,” New says. He adds that he’s “also lucky that the main source of my fruit is from a very late ripening vineyard in the Upper Derwent Valley which holds lovely tension in the wines.” Maintaining that tension in warmer vintages is a challenge that he prefers to tackle in the winery rather than picking early for acidity. “I look to things like subtle skin contact or longer macerations and ageing on lees to find extra energy when it can be lacking in some wines. Picking early at the expense of flavour isn’t always the solution to my mind.”
“I look to things like subtle skin contact or longer macerations and ageing on lees to find extra energy when it can be lacking in some wines. Picking early at the expense of flavour isn’t always the solution to my mind.”
“I believe the overall challenge across most of Australia is how to rein in our abundant fruit-forward characters and find more savouriness and complexity in our wines,” New says. “This is an on going process of using winemaking approaches such as longer macerations for reds, longer maturation times, use of lees and solids, holding off sulphur additions until just prior to bottling, et cetera.” He adds, with characteristic modesty, “But none of this is anything mind-blowing or new.”
New’s modesty gives his approach a certain introspective cast. “What am I doing that’s any different to everyone else?” he muses. “Particularly at a time when there’s so many labels and producers out there all doing fantastic things. Why should I exist? Honestly, I can’t bring anything new to the table that hasn’t been done before. All I can do is what I feel is right for the season, grapes and wine and be respectful of the sites I work with. And hopefully there’s enough people out there to find pleasure in that.”
He’s finding that audience, with his wines emerging as some of the best of Tasmania’s new wave, allowing him to lean in to his winemaking instincts. He’s been surprised by the positive response to his idiosyncratic style of riesling – “barrel fermented, full malo, aged on full solids with residual sugar and tempered acidity” as he describes it. “People really got around it but it I thought it would be a total flop,” he says.
And for the future? He’s just been offered the “opportunity to lease and run two small vineyards – one in the Derwent and one in the Coal. So I’m so thrilled to be able to farm again and grow grapes for Future Perfect for coming seasons, in addition to the growers I currently work with. As far as where I’ll be, definitely based in Tassie but potentially also pursuing a little joint pinot-orientated adventure in Japan!” Watch this space.
GET FIRST ACCESS TO THE NEXT WINE ICONS – DELIVERED
Find out moreEach month, get 3 bottles of our freshest discoveries. We taste thousands to bring you the best.
Join us and support emerging winemakers, sustainable vineyards, and the development of young professionals.
Please sign in or create account as candidate to bookmark this job
Please sign in or create account to save this search
Please sign in or create account as candidate to create a resume
