Word arrived this morning from WA-based writer Peter Forrestal that the chief winemaker for the WA-based Houghton brand (owned by The Hardy Wine Company) is resigning his position. Larry Cherubino, one of Australia’s leading young winemakers, has decided to take a break from work to think about his career and where it is going. I spoke to him a few moments ago. ‘I’ve been with Houghton on and off for around nine years and it’s been a great two-way street’, says Cherubino. ‘I’m incredibly proud of where the company is now, but over the last five years (since he’s been in charge) it’s been flat strap and I’m very tired. ‘I want to take time to think about what I want to do next. I don’t necessarily want to go out and do my own thing, but over the last twelve months I have been thinking a lot about what I want. I’ve now done the Houghton thing. I don’t know what happens next, but I know I need a change. ‘I don’t want to hang around, take my eye off the ball and let the wine suffer as a consequence. I wouldn’t want to compromise where Houghton is now or myself. I’ve seen it where people get tired and maybe should have moved on and don’t want to be one of those people. I know a lot of people might think I’m crazy, but for me it’s important to get my focus back.’ Cherubino has overseen a steady improvement in the quality of Houghton red wines, and this year saw the release of the company’s inaugural release of its new flagship Gladstones Shiraz (from Frankland River fruit). He made his decision after listening to Rick Kinzbrunner speak at the presentation dinner for the Qantas Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine Winemaker of the Year Award, won by Kinzbrunner but at which Cherubino was himself another finalist. I wish him well, and I am sure that The Hardy Wine Company feels the same way. In other news, despite the fact that I believe the Jimmy Watson Trophy has no credibility as a wine award, some of you may be curious to learn that Saltram’s un-released ‘The Eighth Maker’ Shiraz 2002 has been awarded this trophy for the best one-year-old red at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show. This trophy is given to unfinished and unbottled samples of wine and the process by which the winning wine is selected is little more than a vinified chook raffle.
