Cherubino: 14 Wines with Larry Cherubino, Including Frankland River Cabernet Back to 2012
Cherubino
The most decorated producer in Western Australia
Join Larry Cherubino, Owner & Winemaker, for 14 of his own wines reading region, site and clone across Margaret River, Frankland River, Porongurup and Pemberton
Including Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, 2019 and 2012
a fourteen year run of the wine that made Frankland River's reputation
…and the Budworth Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
98 Points, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
One of the two equal highest rated Cabernets in the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion
Plus two Ovale Chardonnays, the same hand and the same recipe,
Gingin clone from Wilyabrup and Dijon clone from Karridale
Ranked #1 of 73 Margaret River Chardonnays
Huon Hooke's The Real Review, Chardonnay Ratings January 2025
Most Successful Exhibitor, Wine Show of Western Australia
in five of the last six years
Sunday, August 9th
Hosted by Larry Cherubino, Owner & Winemaker
Masterclass: 4–6pm, 14 wines & Kate Lamont nibbles, $135
Dinner: 6.30–9.30pm, 14 wines & 4 courses, $225
What makes this tasting worth the seat
The Frankland River Cabernet runs back fourteen years. The 2021, the 2019 and the 2012 are poured alongside each other. Frankland River Cabernet is a different animal to Margaret River: dustier, earthier, more rustic in its tannin, and in Cherubino's hands remarkably long lived. The 2012 took 97 points from James Halliday, who called it a wine for the Bordeaux purist with intense patience. Fourteen years on, the patience has been served.
The Chardonnays are set up as a clonal argument. Two Ovale bottlings, both 2024, both made the same way. One is Gingin clone from Wilyabrup in the north of Margaret River. The other is Dijon clone from Wychwood in Karridale, in the cool south. Same hand, same recipe, two clones, two ends of the region. Then the Margaret River Chardonnay 2025 at 97 points, and the Black Label Pemberton 2024, which Erin Larkin called utterly superb and the best Pemberton Chardonnay she has seen from the house.
Budworth closes it. Block 6 of the Riversdale vineyard, the 2019, one of the two equal highest rated Cabernets in the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion. Halliday gave it 98 points and described the palate as akin to a string of shimmering, lustrous pearls.
About Cherubino
Larry Cherubino took charge of Houghton in late 1999. He was 27 years old, he was given short notice, and vintage was six weeks away. Over the next three years he won most of the major trophies in the country, several of them more than once. In 2003 he resigned to start again with nothing but a consultancy and a set of relationships with small West Australian growers.
He grew up in the Swan Valley and came to wine sideways, through an agriculture degree and a vintage as a cellar hand at Houghton, Australia's third oldest winery. The experience took hold. He deferred his studies, spent several years working vintages across Europe, finished a double major in agribusiness and horticulture, then read oenology at Roseworthy, graduating in 1996.
Hardys Tintara came first, then travel through Tuscany, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire, then the return to Houghton as senior winemaker and regional manager for BRL Hardy. In that period he introduced 30 new wines, including the Gladstones Cabernet, and selected vine clones specifically suited to Western Australian conditions, chosen for flavour and for tannin quality. That clonal work matters to what is in the glass at this tasting.
The company that became Cherubino was founded shortly after he left, with his wife Edwina, opening with the modest Ad Hoc and The Yard labels. Ovale, Laissez Faire and Pedestal followed. He now farms around 230 hectares across three regions: 120 in Frankland River, 70 in Pemberton and 40 in Margaret River.
Writing in Decanter in January 2025, Peter Richards MW recorded Cherubino's own summary of where the west excels: "Here there's a bunch of varieties that we excel with. Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon top the list of such varieties, particularly in Margaret River. You might add Pinot Noir in Pemberton, or Riesling in the Great Southern."
Read the wine list below and you will notice it is exactly that sentence, poured.
James Halliday on Larry
"Larry Cherubino has had a particularly distinguished winemaking career, first at Hardys Tintara, then Houghton and thereafter as consultant and Flying Winemaker in Australia, NZ, South Africa, the US and Italy. He has developed numerous ranges, including Cherubino, single-vineyard range The Yard, and the single-region Ad Hoc label. The range and quality of his wines is extraordinary, the prices irresistible."
James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
The Record
A selection. The full list runs considerably longer.
2025 and 2026
Ranked #1 of 73 Margaret River Chardonnays, Huon Hooke's The Real Review, Chardonnay Ratings January 2025
Grenache of the Year, Uovo Grenache 2023, 2025 Ray Jordan WA Wine Review
2023 and 2024
Winery of the Year, Matthew Jukes, two years running
Producer of the Year, 2023 Ray Jordan Wine Review
Shortlisted, Outstanding Wine Producer of the Year and White Wine Producer of the Year, 2023 International Wine and Spirits Competition
Trophy for Most Successful WA Exhibitor, 2023 Perth Royal Wine Show
Best Shiraz Trophy, Pedestal Shiraz 2021, 2023 Sydney Wine Show
2022
The Len Evans Memorial Trophy for Best White Wine of the Show, Margaret River Chardonnay 2020, National Wine Show of Australia
Best Chardonnay of the Show, Margaret River Chardonnay 2020. That wine has now won ten trophies.
Trophy for Best Single Vineyard Wine, 2022 Sydney Royal Wine Show
Best wine in the Top 100 Reds, Cherubino Shiraz Mataro 2020, The West Australian
Six trophies at the Wine Show of Western Australia, including Most Successful Exhibitor
2021
Trophy for Best Chardonnay and Trophy for Best White of the Show, Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Trophy for Wine of the Show, White Wine of the Show and Best Chardonnay, Margaret River Wine Show
Trophy for Most Successful WA Exhibitor, Perth Royal Wine Show
Trophy for Best Riesling, Ad Hoc Wall Flower Riesling, Perth Royal Wine Show
Earlier
Winemaker of the Year, Ray Jordan Wine Guide 2020
Most Successful Western Australian Exhibitor, 2019 Perth Royal Wine Show
Best Wine of Provenance, Cherubino Riesling, 2019 Perth Royal Wine Show
Best Sauvignon Blanc, The Yard Channybearup 2018, 2019 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
Best Value Winery of the Year, 2017 Halliday Wine Companion Awards
Most Successful Exhibitor at the Wine Show of Western Australia, the state's largest annual showcase of WA wine, in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, with five trophies in 2020.
Sourced from the official results of the Wine Show of Western Australia, the Perth Royal Wine Show, the Royal Adelaide Wine Show, the Margaret River Wine Show, the Sydney Royal Wine Show, the National Wine Show of Australia, the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards and the International Wine and Spirits Competition, together with the Halliday Wine Companion, Huon Hooke's The Real Review, Ray Jordan, Matthew Jukes and The West Australian.
Meet the Host… Larry Cherubino
Owner and winemaker. He is not a proprietor who sends a brand ambassador. He drives the vineyards, and on 9 August he pours and talks through all 14 wines himself.
Worth asking him about: why he chose Gingin for Wilyabrup and Dijon for Karridale; what he learned from Jacques Lurton in Bordeaux about detail and multi-tasking; and what he saw in Frankland River that almost nobody else did.
The Wine List
First Course
Ad Hoc Riesling 2025 | Our Price $24
95 Points, Nick Ryan, The Weekend Australian, Top 100 Wines 2025
Cherubino Frankland River Riesling 2025 | Our Price $48
Beautiful, just beautiful. Intense aromas of lemon zest and bath salts lift immediately on the nose. The fruit is sourced from the two best blocks on the Riversdale Vineyard. The palate has a crunchy vibrancy with a lively flow that bounces off the slaty wet pebble character. Precise and pure with tremendous cellaring potential.
96 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com.au
The 2025 Frankland River Riesling is tightly coiled, savoury and linear, with abundant tension and pithy phenolics. This is a wine made for the future. The length of flavour soars over the tongue and spears across a long finish. This is an impressive wine here. It is steely.
95 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
Cherubino Porongurup Riesling 2025 | Our Price $48
The 2025 Porongurup Riesling is talcy and floral, super pretty and intense in the mouth. I love (really) the behaviour of Riesling in Porongurup. There is no region in Australia capable of such prettiness and longevity in one fell swoop as this place. I am forever and repeatedly impressed, as I am today.
96 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
Wow, this is something else. Fine, delicate and yet sustained and intense. This is a wonderful showcase of Porongurup Riesling with its minerally spicy tension evident. It is so pristine and pure, with a bracing yet fine acidity that lances to an extraordinarily long finish.
96 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com
Truffle artichoke, jamon, warm sourdough toast
Second Course
Cherubino Ovale Gingin Chardonnay 2024 | Our Price $66
The 2024 Gingin Willows Vineyard Chardonnay is from Wilyabrup in Margaret River and made using the clone of Gingin. This is important to its flavour and structure profile, as the clone has very small, tightly packed bunches that are significantly affected by millerandage, with big and little berries. This increases the ratio of skin to juice, yielding wines of great phenolic tension, high acidity and powerful fruit. It is exactly thus in this glass. This is a magnificent wine that screams the coastal power of Margaret River. It is superb.
95 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
It captures so much of the character that is the Gingin clone from Wilyabrup. It demonstrates the clonal influence and the regional character. There is a lemon meringue and subtle peachy nectar and stone fruit combination on the nose, and the palate has a creamier, richer texture, albeit still crafted to be fine and expressive of the variety. There is a little of that sea spray nuance, adding another level of complexity. Another powerful statement of Margaret River Gingin clone chardonnay.
95 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com
Cherubino Ovale Dijon Chardonnay 2024 | Our Price $66
This is made using specifically the Dijon clone, and it comes from the Wychwood Vineyard in Karridale. So even in what was a fairly warm year, it is with cooler fruit, and so there is a fineness about it. Whole bunch pressing was used before it went into a mix of new and one-year-old oak barrels for about 10 months. It is quite fine and delicate, yet it is Margaret River, so there is power and characters of quince paste and butterscotch with some nice spicy minerality and a steely thread. All comes together to focus and define this excellent wine.
96 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com.au
The 2024 Dijon Wychwood Vineyard Chardonnay hails from Karridale, in Margaret River's south. It is cooler and wetter here than in the further north areas like Wilyabrup, and so the wines often display mouthwatering acidity and drive. Here, the wine is linear and tightly coiled, with lemon scratchings, citrus balm, green apple, toasted nuts and brine. This is a distinctly different wine in line and shape compared to the other Chardonnays in the Cherubino arsenal.
93 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
Cherubino Margaret River Chardonnay 2025 | Our Price $92
Brings together fruit from the best blocks within the sub-regions of Karridale and Wilyabrup in Margaret River. Typically handpicked and whole-bunch pressed before fermentation in a new and one-year-old French oak combination for just eight months. There is power and complexity here, evident immediately on the nose and reinforced on the palate. Quince, crème brûlée and lemon meringue aromas swirl through a highly aromatic opening, and then on the palate there is a richness and concentrated depth that gathers before driving through to a long, sustained finish with a final lick of minerality. It is a terrific wine.
97 Points, Ray Jordan, WinePilot
Cherubino Black Label Pemberton Chardonnay 2024 | Our Price $138
The 2024 Pemberton Chardonnay is rich, toasty and nutty on the nose, with notes of brûlée top, flambéed peach, cashews, lemon oil and white peach. The acidity on the palate is scintillating and serves to sensationally balance the opulence of the fruit. This is easily the best Pemberton Chardonnay I have seen from Cherubino, something I would not have predicted given some of the challenges of the hot, dry season. There is not a skerrick of that to be seen here. This is utterly superb!
97 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
The 2024 Chardonnay Pemberton shows its impressive class immediately with a brooding core of pineapple, crab apple and pithy citrus wrapped in a cloak of nutty barrel ferment and spicy oak. The palate offers excellent flavour density and composure, still youthful and closed, with prominent flinty elements, while the underlying power and length are undeniable. It just needs time.
94 Points, Angus Hughson, Vinous
Seared salmon, shiitake, salsa verde
Third Course
Cherubino Riversdale Cabernet Blend 2021 | Our Price $87
The 2021 Riversdale hails from the Riversdale vineyard in Frankland River. In the mouth, the tannins are the highlight; they are supple and subtle within the folds of fruit flavour, while the oak is perceptible but seamlessly in balance with all other aspects of the wine. It is a package, wrapped and folded with origami precision and presented with elegance and balance at every turn. It is rather astoundingly good and a bold statement about the potential of Frankland River as one of Western Australia's great Cabernet regions. Never in doubt.
95 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jul 2024)
Cherubino Riversdale Merlot Cabernet Franc 2021 | Our Price $87
The 2021 Riversdale Merlot Cabernet Franc is composed of Merlot, clone 181 (60%) and Cabernet Franc, clone 337 (40%). It is ultra fine in the mouth, with intense tannins and purple fruit. Lingering and super pretty, this is balanced and floral, with raw cocoa, raspberry pip and violets, garden roses and sandalwood. I have to say, I really love how this feels in the mouth. It is pliable and a little gritty, ductile and lingering, and it flows effortlessly across the palate. What a wine. A pleasure.
96 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jul 2024)
Cherubino Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 | Our Price $87
No published critic review
Beetroot tarte tatin, curd, candied walnuts
Fourth Course
Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 | Our Price $138
The 2021 Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon is all about the tannins in the mouth. The fruit is red, purple and fine, but the tannins it flows through are chewy, twiggy and brambly; the tannins persist after the wine has gone, but they are not drying or obstructive. I have long been a fan of Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon. It is distinctly different from Margaret River in its dusty, fine and earthy splay of tannins, and yet there is an effortlessness about them that is endlessly impressive, as this is.
95 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2026)
The fine-boned, elegant and expressive 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Frankland River delivers precise leafy aromas topped by crushed fresh blackcurrants and gravel. It is compact and composed with a seamless balance between vibrant flavours and sinewy tannins before unwinding into a long, fine, silky finish. Drink between 2027 and 2038.
94 Points, Angus Hughson, Vinous
Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 | Our Price $128
A glorious example of Frankland cabernet. The varietal notes of blackcurrant and a little black olive are beautifully infiltrated by that regional ironstone character. The palate is a powerhouse with a firm core of new and one-year-old oak working with the firm chalky tannins to carry effortlessly through to a sustained finish. Still quite tight at the moment but extended cellaring will see something special.
97 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com.au
A medium-bodied red with blackberries, iodine and terra cotta. Polished and refined tannins that are supple and pretty. Juicy fruit. Very drinkable.
93 Points, James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com
Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 | Our Price $128
This has the best crimson-purple colour of its Great Southern and Margaret River siblings, heralding a wine with exceptional varietal purity and focus, fine-grained tannins woven through its full-bodied black fruits, oak playing a less obvious role than it does in the other two wines. This is for the Bordeaux purist with intense patience.
97 Points, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (Jun 2021)
It feels profound, partly due to the wealth of tannin and oak, and yet there is a brightness here, a spark. Thunder and lightning style. Redcurrant, spearmint, chocolate, a thick ooze of cassis. Drying tannin but so much juiciness to the fruit. Peppermint cream notes to the aftertaste. It is still finding its feet; it is clearly settling in for a very long haul.
95 Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is oaky and rich, powerful and ripe, with black fruit aromas and flavours galore. A very big, solid wine with an impressive tannin backbone and a long, long finish. No doubt extended cellaring will reap rewards. A whopper, but everything is in proportion.
95 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Cherubino Budworth Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 | Our Price $149
One of the two equal highest rated Cabernets in the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion
Ranked 2 of 21 Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignons from 2019, Huon Hooke's The Real Review
Handpicked, sorted and macerated on skins for two months; matured in new and one-year-old French barriques. This fragrant, medium-bodied cabernet is something quite special. I have no doubt whatsoever that Block 6 has once again provided excellent fruit that could have been left to its own devices, but skilled vinification, patience and attention to the smallest detail have made a glorious cabernet sauvignon, the palate akin to a string of shimmering, lustrous pearls.
98 Points, James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (2022)
Silky smooth and elegant cabernet from the special Block 6 within the Riversdale Vineyard. There is an ethereal aroma here of violet and red fruit with a cedary blackcurrant overlay. Once you reach the palate you are in a heady zone. Refined and graceful lines based on fine chalky tannins and a liberal well managed use of oak carry the fruit with ease to a sustained long finish.
97 Points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com.au
The 2019 Budworth Cabernet Sauvignon hails from a considerably cooler year than its inception vintage, 2018. The fruit, as a result, is finer and darker than the powerful wine from the 2018 vintage. Here, the fruit expresses with salted liquorice, dark chocolate, graphite, tobacco, blackberry, cassis, bay leaf, iodine and red dirt. In the mouth, the Frankland River fruit dutifully fills the middle palate with intense flavour, while the tannins that shape it are pliable and ductile. This is a lovely wine, altogether different from the first vintage and wonderful for it.
96 Points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
Confit duck, cannellini bean crema, roasted courgettes
To Finish…
Coffee, tea or hot chocolate, with Bon Bonbon's Gold Medal winning Lamont's Liqueur Muscat Bonbons.
To see more details on the event, click below.