Winemaker
Tom Higgins
- Discipline
- Winemaker
- Based in
- Union Springs, New York, United States
i. Biography
The Climb
Pinot Noir rewards tight decisions, and Tom Higgins’s path into it moved through a series of jobs that built that discipline from different angles. Bradley University is the only school, but the working education runs wider: e-business consulting at Accenture (1998–2000), business-to-business consulting at beautyjungle.com (2000–2001), and WebSphere consulting at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (2001–2003) each added a layer of technical fluency before wine entered the picture at Zachy's Wine and Liquor (2003–2004). The shift from distribution and consulting into production was incremental, then immediate. At North Salem Vineyard (2004), Higgins worked as Assistant Winemaker; at Chateau La Lagune (2005), as Intern Winemaker; and at Calera Wine Company (2005), as Harvest Winemaker. Those roles placed him inside the pace of cellar work and the pressure of harvest, where timing matters as much as intent. By 2006–2007, he was splitting responsibility between cellar and vineyard as Assistant Winemaker and Assistant Vineyard Manager at Thirsty Owl Wine Company (2006–2007), then moving further into cultivation as Chef De Culture at Atwater Estate Vineyards (2007–2008). Since 2006, Heart & Hands Wine Company in Union Springs, New York, has been the fixed point in that sequence. As owner and winemaker there, Tom Higgins turned a long run of technical and field work into a single practice.
Today
Since 2006, Tom Higgins has been owner and winemaker at Heart & Hands Wine Company in Union Springs, New York. The job joins the cellar to the vineyard and keeps the focus narrow: Pinot Noir. That kind of concentration does not come from a single role; it is the result of years spent moving through consulting, sales, harvest work, assistant winemaking, and vineyard management before taking charge of a winery of his own. The present role reads as an accumulation of earlier work rather than a break from it. Harvest winemaking at Calera Wine Company, assistant winemaking and assistant vineyard management at Thirsty Owl Wine Company, and Chef De Culture work at Atwater Estate Vineyards all point toward the same practical vocabulary. Higgins’s current work at Heart & Hands Wine Company brings those disciplines together in one place, with Pinot Noir as the stated focus.
Signature
Pinot Noir is the named specialty in Tom Higgins’s work. At Heart & Hands Wine Company, that focus sits on top of a career that has moved through cellar work, vineyard responsibilities, and harvest production, making the grape variety the clearest marker of his practice.
Recognition
The clearest recognition in this profile is specialization itself: Pinot Noir. Rather than a list of awards, a progression of roles that each describe a different part of wine production. Tom Higgins’s name appears across those titles as the person who moved through them, but the craft identity comes through the work names: Harvest Winemaker, Assistant Vineyard Manager, Chef De Culture, and owner and winemaker. That sequence is the point. It shows a producer defined by repeated, specific labor across vineyard and cellar, with Heart & Hands Wine Company as the place where those parts settle into one long-running role.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Tom
What is Tom Higgins's current role?
As of 2026, Tom Higgins is Owner and Winemaker.
Where did Tom Higgins train or study?
Tom Higgins trained at Bradley University.
What is Tom Higgins known for?
Pinot Noir.
