Robert Oatley

Iconic Australian Wine Family

Robert Oatley Vineyards is the reincarnation of the Oatley family winemaking dynasty. Wine is ‘in the blood’ of our late founder Bob Oatley and his eldest son Sandy, leader of the family business founded upon a four-decade passion for grape growing, wine making and marketing – the combination of which has seen the Oatley family rise to the top of the Australian winemaking scene.

With interests spanning the world of competitive sailing, tourism, hospitality and of course, wine – the family produces wines both of immediate appeal and cellar-ability, with satisfying flavours over an elegant frame.

Over forty years of nurturing grapevines and making wine has taught the Oatley family many lessons. Site selection is paramount, that ‘sense of place’, as where you choose to grow your grapes is vital to both style and quality. The Oatley approach is to overlay this philosophy with an outstanding team of grape growers and wine makers, using the best possible equipment, to allow them every chance of producing a winner.

Director of Winemaking, acclaimed vigneron Larry Cherubino, together with an acclaimed team of winemakers and viticulturists achieves this via a myriad of vineyards across key Australian wine regions, in particular West Australia’s Margaret River and Great Southern and South Australia’s McLaren Vale.

Vineyards are tended as organically as possible and wines are made with minimal intervention, reflecting a dedication to sustainable grape growing and wine production practices.

A blend of Grenache (48%), Shiraz (42%) and Mourvedre (Mataro) (10%) from southern McLaren Vale, where the hills run down to the ocean. Fermented on skins in a combination of open and closed fermenters and matured in French oak for 6 months.

Robert Oatley Wines celebrates the memory of Bob Oatley through a trio of labels: the maritime-influenced Signature Series, the specific vineyard focused Finisterre, and the best of the best barrels under The Pennant. Focussing on wines from Margaret River and McLaren Vale that consistently score over 90 points with the critics and having collected too many medals to detail, a number of the wines have been or are trophy winners but most importantly they’ve resonated with the wine-loving public around Australia and the world. As Bob Oatley said ‘they must be a darned good drink.’