Attaching the word ‘veteran’ to a picture of Larry Cherubino might – or at least should – prompt a double take, because the winemaker’s youthful demeanour and lack of grey hair belies his track record as a restless pioneer, with three decades of experience and a fervent connection with Western Australia and its soils.
Cherubino with Australian wine specialist Matthew Jukes, September 2025
Cherubino and wife Edwina have come a long way without travelling far, setting up shop in their spare room twenty years ago, starting off as negociants, steadily building a portfolio of vineyards then, two years ago, buying a flagship winery complex in Margaret River, the region from which they already produced their most celebrated wines.
At the end of that year, 2023, their achievements were recognised when they won the IWSC’s ‘Outstanding Wine Producer’trophy, an award made all the more remarkable because Larry Cherubino only works part-time with the family business, also holding down a job as consultant winemaker at Robert Oatley.
“I grew up on a dairy farm in the Swan Valley and I married a farmer’s daughter, so this is something that I always wanted to do. We now grow all of our own grapes, everything we do is just going straight back into the dirt and that’s really the driver for our business … we’re very much integrated and we can't survive if we don’t do a good job out there,” he tells me.
“Most of our vineyards are in the Great Southern, in Frankland River, and then we have smaller holdings in Margaret River and Pemberton, and within those regions we’re really specialised, so we’re not going to try to do things that don’t naturally fit or work well.”
Cherubino: "We don’t see a benefit in being confined to a single dogma, so rather than solely chasing organic or biodynamic certification, or sticking to conventional farming principles, we harness best practice from each system."
International perspective
Cherubino, now in his mid fifties, cut his teeth in Europe – in Bordeaux, and the south of France and Italy – before returning to Western Australia to ride its wine wave, emerging as a key figure in the rise of Margaret River as a rival to Burgundy for the quality of its Chardonnay and to Bordeaux, or perhaps Napa, for its Cabernet Sauvignon.
“I was lucky because I gained a really good international perspective and learned the classics, so to speak. The difference now is that it doesn’t matter where you go because technically wine is really good everywhere. When I started in the industry it was all about technology and being process driven, and that’s what got you through, but these days it’s all about biology and soil so that’s what’s making the real difference … Margaret River is really unique as far as it produces really excellent Cabernet and Chardonnay, and when you try to explain that to people in other regions around the world they find it quite a difficult concept to comprehend.”
Though Cherubino works across Western Australia, with a host of varieties, Chardonnay seems to pulse through his veins:
“I always say to people, ‘if you’re going out to talk about Margaret River then talk about the Chardonnay’,because there’s so much Cabernet around the world that’s made in great styles, but Chardonnay of this quality is quite unique (with) lashings of full-flavoured fruit, underlying granite, sea shells and acidity, which is very hard to do anywhere else and that’s what makes the wines so delicious.”
The Uovo wines were some of the many that Cherubino showed at Hatch Mansfield's September portfolio tasting
Cherubino also crafts more esoteric wines, including his Uovo range, fermented and matured in concrete eggs, blending Cabernet with Nebbiolo, or Touriga Naçional.
“We have been making the Uovo wines for the last 13 years, so they have been around a long time, and the UK has been really accepting of those wines, taking them up more than any other market. I think they are well understood for their character and structure; everyone seems to love them.”
Hatch Mansfield added Cherubino’s eponymous wines to its portfolio in May 2023, to complement its existing range from Robert Oatley.
“We were very fortunate to meet Larry when we took on the wines of Robert Oatley in 2016 and it was clear from the start that this was someone very special, in terms of his winemaking skills and his vision for Western Australia,” says managing director, Ben Knollys. “He really is pioneering, one of those wonderful characters of the wine world … a dynamic figure who can juggle so many different things, with his style coming through in both his own wines and those from Oatley. He’s just a great winemaker, for both of them.”
"Awards and industry acclaim are pretty fleeting, so consistency is more important, the wines being the best that we can make."
Balancing act
So how does Cherubino balance both jobs, adding his winemaking signature while retaining a separate identity for both wineries?
“Well, Oatley’s style and approach is very different, including where they source their fruit, working with long established suppliers, whereas I grow my own grapes, so that significantly influences style and direction. People often say to me ‘that Chardonnay is great and yours is too, so what do you do?’ and I say it’s all down to sourcing and it’s sub-region and vineyard-related, nothing else … We now own all of our vineyards, we’re growing all of our own grapes and we are 100% sustainable. Wines will come and go but the vines are always there, and that’s the main thing.”
Australia’s wine industry has been through tough times of late, including the bitter row with China that led to swingeing tariffs and prompted a collapse in exports to the country, but Cherubino seems sanguine.
Cherubino hosting a masterclass at the Hatch Mansfield tasting
"I have a busy business and there’s still lots to achieve, the last couple of years have probably been the most difficult, there’s always something to keep you on your toes … We’re seeing some of the pre-pandemic trends re-emerge, people are drinking less, there has been the fallout from the issue with China, it’s tough, and there are certain regions that are really suffering, but on the other hand Australia has probably never made better wine.”
He hesitates for a moment, perhaps to choose his words carefully. “Let’s just say the current situation will sort out those who are in it for the long term … We’re not dominated by big business anymore, it has been very difficult for Australia, but the reason those wines have never been better is because the industry is now dominated by small, family producers.”
As for the industry acclaim and awards success that the Cherubino brand has enjoyed, including that coveted IWSC producer trophy in ’23 as well as being named ‘Winery of the Year’ in Matthew Jukes's 100 Best Australian Wines, he appears almost nonchalant.
“These things are pretty fleeting, so consistency is more important, the wines being the best that we can make. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I have been doing this for so long, today’s news is wrapping up tomorrow’s fish and chips.”
The wines of Larry Cherubino and Robert Oatley are imported and sold in the UK by Hatch Mansfield which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
