A Man of Mystery & Modesty
As you know, I’ve been really impressed by some of the wines Larry Cherubino makes. The most recent wines were reds under the AdHoc, Pedestal and Robert Oatley labels, which we can buy for $20 and less.
So I was keen to ask Larry how he made really attractive wines at such user-friendly prices, and tried to set up an interview with him. His PR manager said she’d make it happen and let me know.
Weeks went by so I sent Lucy a friendly reminder, and she sent back an email right away, saying ‘how about 10 minutes from now before Larry goes into his next meeting? I said sure. I had planned to do a full interview with him, but figured that 10 minutes was better than nothing.
When we spoke, I compared Larry’s reds with those of the young Wolf Blass, but there was no reaction. Then I realized that Larry was a baby in the early seventies, at the time Wolf made those early reds.
It soon became clear that Larry is not a great talker. And unlike Wolf Blass, he’s no self-promoter. Wolf claims that the style of reds we made when he arrived down under was ‘lunatic’, and that he showed us the way to the promised land. ‘My wines make weak men strong, and strong women weak,’ was his most famous boast.
When I asked Larry where he learned his secrets, he said there were no secrets and added ‘any decent winemaker can do what we do.’ So why don’t they, I wondered. Larry earned his stripes as a consultant winemaker in NZ, South Africa, the US and Italy. In Australia, he worked at Hardies before becoming chief winemaker at Houghton.
He must’ve carved the recipe for his style of wine into the winery floor at Houghtons, because they were still producing gold-medal winning $10 reds 20 years later.
In 2005, Larry went out on his own, buying and planting vineyards in the west, and making wine under his own labels while still consulting to a handful of wineries. Fast forward to 2012, and Larry’s only client was the Oatley family. Huon Hooke tells the story under the heading ‘Bright Star Invigorates.’
Winning Ways
Another thing Larry has in common with Wolfie is his eye for great but undervalued wine areas. Blass raised Langhorne Creek’s profile, as did Larry with Frankland River. The 80 hectare Justin vineyard, one of the oldest in the Great Southern, had been leased by Houghton for decades, and was the main source for the great Houghton reds Larry made.
Houghton was part of the Accolade wine group, which ran into strong headwinds in recent years, and the Oatleys bought part of the Justin vineyard with Larry’s help. In addition to the Signature wines, Larry makes Oatley’s Finistere and Pennant ranges, plus the odd limited release.
Larry has been picking up truckloads of bling at home and abroad. Late in 2023, he won the 2023 White Wine Producer Trophy at the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s annual competition in London. He has a way to go to equal the bling in Wolfie’s trophy cabinet but I have no doubt that he’ll get there.
Popular British wine scribe Matthew Jukes is a great fan of Larry’s, writing: ‘I take my hat off to the dedication, perseverance, palate acumen and will to win that all combine to create the enigma that is Mr. Cherubino.’ Juke describes Larry as ‘a shy chap who hides behind a Hollywood grin and a ludicrous mop of jet-black hair.’ So it wasn’t just me.
Jukes was so impressed with Larry’s wines that he named Cherubino his Winery of The Year 2023/24. ‘I have known Larry for a quarter of a century,’ Jukes says, ‘and very few people in our industry have a work ethic like his. His hunger for knowledge and understanding of the world’s great wines fires his imagination and palate to reach new heights with his own wines every year.’
The launch of Jukes’ Top 100 this year was held at Australia House and attended by Australian High Commissioner Stephen Smith. Over 300 UK-based Australian wine industry experts were invited to attend the 20th anniversary celebrations..
More Than Great Wine
Larry Cherubino puts out a staggering 72 wines, almost all of them made from fruit off his own vineyards. The winery and cellar door in Margaret River were established just a few years ago. ‘These days,’ Larry told me, ‘you need to do more than make wine. You have to provide an experience for your visitors.’ So the winery features an art gallery and a fancy restaurant, and provides a great venue for weddings.
In the vineyards, it’s about clonal selection and sustainable agriculture. ‘We don’t use herbicides. We employ fish and seaweed applications. We make our own compost to support the whole vineyard biology. It’s not just about better water retention, but about healthy soils with good microbial activity. It’s a whole ecosystem thinking to make healthier, disease-resistant vines.’
The Wines
The Robert Oatley Signature range offers tremendous value for money. I’ve raved about the sweet seduction of the GSM 2020 and the 2021 Shiraz, both from McLaren Vale, in my recent mailers. I’ve also been impressed with some of Larry’s other labels – the Pedestal Shiraz and the Ad Hoc Avant Gardening Cabernet Malbec stand out.
I really like the light touch Larry uses with his reds; even those from McLaren Vale show real finesse. The whites are even more delicate, which suits the Riesling but less so the Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and the SSB. I like my whites a little richer. Still, there isn’t an ordinary wine among them.
Our Cellar in Sydney offers the sharpest prices on the signature range, stocks all of the wines and ships right across Australia at competitive rates.
