Wonder in the Making: Episode 1 — The Winery

There’s plenty happening at Small Wonder.

Our new Cellar Door and restaurant are taking shape alongside the vineyard and Winery in the Tamar Valley. Before we open the doors, Wonder in the Making is taking you behind the scenes to meet the people involved and share more of the thinking, work and decisions that have brought us here.

For Episode 1, we’re starting with the place at the heart of our winemaking: the Winery.

Bringing our winemaking home

Our Tamar Valley vineyard is where the Small Wonder story began. Bringing our winemaking onto the property was an important next step, and our winery was completed in 2024.

“Having our own winery at Small Wonder allows us much more control and gives us a lot more flexibility in how we make wine.”
— Paul McArdle, CEO

That flexibility matters at Small Wonder. Rather than treating each vineyard as a single uniform site, parcels can be kept separate according to differences including clone, rootstock, pruning method, soil type, vine vigour and maturity. They’re then fermented in small batches using temperature-controlled stainless steel, oak or concrete vessels, with minimal additions.

It allows the winemaking team to respond to the fruit in front of them, rather than asking every parcel to behave in the same way.

“We’re very particular in terms of small batches and ensuring that we capture the essence of the vineyards and the blocks of fruit, and that is expressed in the wine.”
— Paul McArdle, CEO

A light touch

Having more control in the winery doesn’t mean doing more to the wine.

“We try with our winemaking style to be quite light in our touch and just let the fruit speak for itself.”
— Sara Dooley, Assistant Winemaker

Fruit is hand-picked, handled gently and fermented in small batches, with the team paying close attention to each parcel while resisting the urge to over-process it. It’s about giving the character already present in the fruit room to show itself.

And that begins long before fruit reaches the winery. Our Tamar Valley vineyard is certified organic, and the same attention to detail that goes into growing the fruit follows it through the winemaking process.

The result is wines shaped by Tasmania’s cool conditions and the season in which they were grown, with freshness, acidity and detail at their core.

“Small Wonder wines are Tasmania in a glass. They’re very reflective of the region. They’re very reflective of the season as well.”
— Sara Dooley, Assistant Winemaker

From behind the scenes to part of the experience

Until now, much of what happens inside the Winery has remained behind the scenes, but all that’s about to change.

The new Cellar Door and restaurant will sit alongside the vineyard and Winery, bringing the different parts of Small Wonder together in one place. Visitors will be able to look across the vines, taste wines grown and made here and better understand the connection between the land, the fruit and what eventually reaches the glass.

For a small team that has spent the past few years building towards this point, that connection feels particularly significant.

“Now it’s finally coming together in a place we can all enjoy and share.”
— Robert Stewart, Cellar Door Manager 

And that’s really what Wonder in the Making is about.

Over the coming episodes, we’ll share more of the people, places and ideas behind Small Wonder as this next part of our Tamar Valley home comes to life.

For now, step inside the Winery and see where it all begins.