Chester Osborn
NOTHING BUT ORIGINAL
History doesn’t hold back imagination at d’Arenberg, a McLaren Vale institution, where award-winning winemaker Chester Osborn has many more tricks up his sleeve.
McLaren Vale wouldn’t be the same without Chester Osborn. Dressed in a trademark colourful shirt and calling wines names like Cenosilicaphobic Cat, his flow of creative ideas is endless. As fourth-generation winemaker at d’Arenberg, Chester crafts collectible, classic wines and experimental drops. Today d’Arenberg grows more than 30 grape varieties, sells wine to over 90 countries and has been named Winery of the Year in several international competitions. And Chester’s inventions keep coming.
Imagining things
When it comes to award-winning Australian wineries, there aren’t many more decorated than d’Arenberg, helmed by Chester Osborn. The fourth generation of Osborns to work in the family business, Chester grew up here, and knew from a young age that he was destined for a life in wine.
“I got paid 10 cents an hour when I started picking grapes when I was seven years old,” he says. “I don’t think I was worth that much money, I think I ate more grapes than I put in the bucket. But I got a wage rise to 30 cents an hour when I was eight and I thought ‘I had better work for that’. So, I really learnt about the business from the ground up.”
After studying winemaking and doing a six-month wine tour of Europe, in 1984 Chester took over from his father, the esteemed d’Arry Osborn, as chief winemaker. Chester brought an unflinching focus on quality, making changes in the vineyard to produce intensely flavoured fruit and bringing back traditional winemaking methods like foot treading and basket pressing.
Chester also dreamed up a Rubik’s Cube–inspired five-storey building for the d’Arenberg estate, which opened in 2017. It’s a giant piece of art but also houses tasting rooms, a restaurant and an art gallery.
Now Chester’s three daughters are involved in the business, and he’s passing on his knowledge and creative approach. But he’s not slowing down any time soon.
“There’s just so much to learn, so much to try and remember and so much to understand in wine that, really, one lifetime is never enough,” says Chester.
“There are a lot more things that I want to do, all sorts of things that I think can leave a little bit of an extra stamp on the world. So, you’ll just have to wait and see…”
“There’s just so much to learn and so much to understand in wine that, really, one lifetime is never enough.”
– Chester Osborn
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