Langton’s Selections Show Reserve Hunter Valley Chardonnay, Roxburgh Hunter Valley Chardonnay, Hill of Gold Shiraz, Mountain Blue Mudgee Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon Bob Oatley established Rosemount Estate in 1969 after a career in the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea. Rosemount Estate quickly established a reputation for making very accessible regional wine. It invested in vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Orange, Mudgee and McLaren Vale building up an enviable portfolio of wines and a dream team of winemakers and marketers headed by Chris Hancock – a protégé of Max Schubert and the Penfold family. Rosemount’s rich buttery Roxburgh Chardonnay, Giant’s Creek Chardonnay and Show Reserve Chardonnay – perennial medal winners on the show circuit – became star wines conspicuously consumed by local celebrities and politicians. The volume branded fast moving Diamond Label range blitzed the commercial wine markets in almost every export country. Such was Rosemount’s success, it tilted successfully at Southcorp (the then owner of Penfolds/Wynns/Lindemans etc) folding itself into a black hole of brands and a dysfunctional corporate structure. Fosters Wine Estates, the current owners, have attempted to resuscitate a lacklustre Rosemount brand. It does not seem to possess the same cachet these days despite the enormous marketing attempts and clever proprietary bottle. The golden days seem well behind it. The ultra fine wines, while performing reasonably well on the primary markets, have not fared so well at auction. All of these wines have become lacklustre performers illustrating the immutable fact that a buoyant feel-good sentiment is essential to the fortunes of wine. It’s not unlike the way the stock market behaves. Notwithstanding the history of Rosemount, the Mountain Blue is an excellent wine and often presents itself as a great value buy. The Roxburgh and Giant’s Creek Chardonnays have never really performed that well. The wines ages too quickly, but it’s delicious to drink when young. (See Rosemount Estate – McLaren Vale) Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's