Robert Oatley Finisterre Margaret River Chardonnay 2019

Entrepreneur Robert Oatley, who passed away in 2016, was no stranger to building an iconic Australian wine business, having been the founding father of the famous Rosemount Estate in the Hunter Valley. In the 1950s and 1960s he made his fortune in coffee and cocoa, and built up a portfolio of businesses ranging from cattle ranches to vineyards, not to mention a love of racing yachts that saw him underwrite Australia’s bid for glory in the 2016 America’s Cup race!

In 2002 he sold Rosemount and decided to step away from the wine business. It hardly took him a year before he was involved once more when he established Robert Oatley Vineyards with properties around Australia.

The business is based at Mudgee in New South Wales but includes projects in Western Australia, McLaren Vale and Yarra Valley. Overseeing this group is acclaimed winemaker Larry Cherubino, heading a hand-picked team of viticulturists and winemakers, all of whom have been provided with state-of-the-art equipment by Robert Oatley. The emphasis for such a wide-ranging enterprise is very much hands-on and sustainable, with intervention kept to a minimum. The emphasis here is on quality and varietal expression.