"This is utterly superb! ...97points" - Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate, Jan 2026 

Spring weather has arrived in Aldeburgh yesterday ("hotter than Milan", says the local paper!) and so did a sample bottle of a wine we had been waiting to taste for a while:  winemaker Larry Cherubino's 2024 Pemberton 'Cherubino' Chardonnay, from Western Australia.  Awarded 97 points by The Wine Advocate, it has the kind of mineral tension and flinty, struck-match character on the nose and palate that we love, so it's a bargain at just £150 per six bottles in bond.  

Cherubino's day job is as consultant winemaker at a large, high-quality Western Australian estate, but Pemberton is his own small venture, established in 2005 with his wife, Edwina.   The wines are made in small quantities (just 1000 cases of this wine were made) and are sought after in Australia, but less well-known in the UK.

The Cherubino Chardonnay is made with fruit from a single-vineyard in the Channybearup "Black Hill" block in Pemberton, planted with a single Chardonnay clone called Gin-Gin, also used at Leeuwin Estate and other great names in the area.  Pemberton is just a few kilometres from the Indian Ocean coast, which brings cooling breezes to moderate the climate. 

The 2024 growing season saw moderate temperatures in the spring, and consistent, though slightly below-average, rainfall. This period of milder weather allowed for robust growth and a healthy flowering.  The moderate rainfall during spring ensured that the soil retained enough moisture, reducing the need for irrigation.  This is one of Pemberton's advantages over the Margaret River, along with cooler summer temperatures, leading to Chardonnays with clarity and tension, rather than tropical or overtly ripe aromas and flavours.

Tasting Cherubino's 2024 Chardonnay today was a pure delight, so we hope you'll try it for yourself.

Offered in bond, available for delivery in March 2026.