97 Points - Philip Rich | Very Limited Stocks
David Bicknell is widely regarded as one of Australia’s most influential winemaking talents, who has played a significant role in shaping the modern Australian wine landscape. After a celebrated tenure at Oakridge Wines, Bicknell recently departed the winery he had lead to great heights for nearly 25 years.
This marks an exciting new chapter, as it allows him to turn his full attention to Bicknell FC, the personal winemaking project he has been carefully building over the past decade. For wine lovers, this provides an exciting opportunity to continue enjoying the talents of one of Australia’s great Chardonnay and Pinot Noir makers under his namesake label.
"97 Points/ From the now defunct Lance's vineyard in St. Andrews, planted in 1984. Whole-bunch pressed to older puncheons. The combination of a cool year and a warm site works beautifully here. A bright green gold. Aromas of perfectly ripened stone fruits meet a little grilled cashew and gentle saline scents in this gorgeous wine. Gently fleshy but with that trademark Bicknell purity of fruit and backbone. Long. Lovely."- Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion.
"96 Points. I’m pretty sure that this was grown on the Diamond Valley Vineyards/Punch site at St Andrews in the Yarra Valley, though I could be wrong. The Lance’s DVV/Punch vineyard was sold earlier this year/late last year, and for the 2024 and 2025 vintages (and hopefully ongoing) Dave Bicknell has bought fruit from the new owners. The quality of the fruit that this vineyard grows needs no introduction or explanation, of course. Production was 174 dozen. Fermented using natural yeast - in this case, ambient. 25% new oak. I’m stunned by the concentration of fruit flavour here. If this wine called me on the telephone I’d be holding the receiver away from my ear - actually that’s not quite accurate because the flavour here is delicious, but you get the idea. The bottle cap should say Warning: Gale Force Flavour. These flavours play in the pear, grapefruit, tinned peach and lime arenas, with (subtle) flint and nougat characters as highlights. There’s pineapple-like acidity in action too, the latter emphasising just how drenched in flavour the acidity itself is, for starters, but also keeping the wine fresh and vigorous. The overall impression: A Class."- Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
