Uncorked: Chester Osborn
D’Arenberg’s flamboyant owner, winemaker and star of the McLaren Vale, Chester Osborn, has been passionate about wine since he sat on Les Evans’ knee aged seven.
Chester clutching a magnum of ‘Dead Arm’ Shiraz
What Vintage are you?
1962
What bottle sparked your love of wine?
Probably a random red I flogged, with a mate when I was seven. I’m pretty sure most of what I drank wasn’t agreeing with my taste buds, except for the fortified white Muscat, but I persevered for the rest of my life, and remember really enjoying a 1963 Rougehomme Claret in around 1980, (made by Owen Redman before selling to Lindeman’s).
Ambition or talent – what matters more?
Talent only comes with ambition. It’s passion that drives learning and the desire to understand the intricate detail.
What would you be as a wine?
Our ‘Cenosilicaphobic Cat’, (a Sagrantino Cinsault blend named after the cat that lived in fear of an
D’Arenberg’s Cenosilicaphobic Cat
empty glass) – so I’d be unique, complicated, deep and brooding. Closed when young, but loud when maturing and a whole lot of fun.
Where are you happiest?
Tasting 200 glasses of the next 200 barrels of wine I have to blend. Any variety.
What’s your greatest vice?
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Wine
Best advice you ever got?
Don’t drink too much
Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?
Any of the 80’s DRC’s
What’s the best & worst thing about the wine business?
Best – the wines and the people. Worst – the people that are negative about wine who, instead of talking about what you should drink, talk of what not to.
Desert island vine?
Sagrantino or Nebiolo
