96+ Points - Philip Rich
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 led to great heights for nearly 25 years. This exciting new chapter for Bicknell allows him to turn his full attention to Bicknell FC, the personal winemaking project he has been carefully building over the past decade.
The hugely popular 2024 Bicknell FC Applecross Pinot Noir showcases the classic finesse of its historic St Andrews vineyard site. Opening with an expressive bouquet of bright cranberry, crushed raspberry, and violet florals, layered over subtle notes of undergrowth and clove. On the palate, it is sleek and finely detailed - offering a core of crisp red berry fruit balanced by taut, fine tannins and a cool-climate mineral drive. Weightless yet persistent, it stands out for its clarity and energetic structure.
"96+ Points. From the old Lance's vineyard, planted from 1976–1998 (with a selection massale from Mount Mary) and in 2003. 80% whole berry and 20% whole bunch. Bright crimson. Perfumed with wild strawberries, first of the summer cherries, subtle rose bush and spice. The more you swirl the glass, the more fragrant it becomes. On the palate, there is a tender plushness, making it feel quite different to the previous Bicknell FC pinots from the Upper Yarra. Fine tannins and bright acidity round out a beautifully crafted and graceful wine. $65. 13.4% alc. Drink: 2025 - 2032. Screwcap."- Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion.
"95 Points. Pinot Noir from what was the Lance family vineyard at St Andrews in the Yarra Valley. 174 dozen bottles and 30 magnums made. I love this wine. It’s beautiful now and it will be beautiful, in a different way, in five or ten years time. It tastes of cherries and rhubarb, undergrowth and minerals, cedar-smoke and autumn leaves, though if ever there was a wine where the notation of individual descriptors was superfluous to requirements, it’s this wine. It is what it is; it presents as one; it tastes of soils, fruits, woods and leaves; it’s spring and autumn in one"- Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
