Inside the latest Bicknell fc release from "boned" Oakridge winemaker Dave Bicknell

It’s been two weeks since longstanding Oakridge chief winemaker Dave Bicknell was “boned” by Endeavour. The question still on everybody in the Australian wine industry’s lips is, why? 

The retail giant’s decision to offload the award-winning Yarra Valley winery was already a baffling one, considering its reputation and the accolades it garnered under Bicknell’s 24-and-a-half-year-tenure, but to do so without him is madness. It is, to borrow the Oz journo Nick Ryan’s analogy, like selling a Rolls Royce without the engine. 

When Dave came into the Halliday office on Thursday to show us the new Bicknell fc releases, he looked shattered. “It's hard to reconcile because there's still a large part of the IP that's invested in me, and I'm the only one who's got that knowledge,” he said. “Why would you take that out?”

We have a couple of theories. One is that EDG has a buyer in mind; a larger business that already has a chief winemaker. Another is that Dave is too tied to the brand’s legacy, and Endeavour are trying to prove the asset has worth without him. It could simply be a cost-cutting measure – we know they’re ruled by numbers. 

Dave Bicknell.

To me, at least, the decision feels personal, and reactive; an instinct supported by the swift (and highly disrespectful) erasure of his profile from the Oakridge website. Because, as anyone who knows him will attest, Dave is not one who’ll just go gentle into that good night.

And nor should he. When Dave joined Oakridge from De Bortoli in 2002, “the place was kind of broken,” he said. It was the improvements and incremental refinements he made over decades across winemaking and viticulture, particularly chardonnay, and his personal relationships that enabled access to esteemed sites like the Henk and Funder & Diamond vineyards, that built the winery into what it is today. 

He also put a lot of work into mentoring and training his people; including regular blind tasting sessions of top-tier wines from around the world, paid for himself. “It took me years to build a team that's really cohesive and who gets it,” he said. Ironically, if Oakridge can survive AB (After Bicknell), this will be why. 

Dave's hopeful that a good buyer will still be found for Oakridge, for the sake of his former team.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining. Less time at Oakridge means more time for Bicknell fc, the label he founded with viticulturist Nicky Harris in 2011. And although frost meant just four wines were produced in the 2025 vintage – the Lance Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon, Lance Close Planted Pinot Noir, Applecross Pinot Noir, and Applecross Chardonnay – they are absolutely singing. 

“There's a depth and generosity in the wines because of the warmer vintage,” Dave says, “but it was important for me to maintain that lightness of touch and the ethereal, aromatic character that I had in the ’24s.

“That lightness and the aromatics also mean they work really well with food,” he adds. “They’re wines for the throat, not for the head.” 

At this stage, production is too small “for me to make a living out of,” but with plans to scale, that looks set to change in the future. 

Bicknell fc will become more of a focus.

As for the future of Oakridge? Despite it all, Dave is still hopeful that a good buyer will be found for the winery – both for the sake of his team (“Well, they’re not my team anymore, they’re my friends.”) and the legacy of the brand he built. “That will completely turn things around,” he said. 

And, while being “boned” may not be the grand exit Dave wanted or deserved, “These things are always a possibility,” he said. “Losing that body of work is the bit that hurts, but I’ve got Bicknell fc to fall back on. I’ve got this.”

Dave will launch the 2025 Bicknell fc wines at Healesville institution Barrique on August 7. Read Philip Rich’s reviews and see how he scored them below.

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