"You never know you're going to get boned until you do": Bicknell out at Oakridge
David Bicknell is out at Oakridge. After almost a quarter of a century, the winemaker who took a broken Yarra Valley winery and built it into one of the top few wine producers in Australia has been “let go” by Endeavour Group, Oakridge's owner since 2021.
Bicknell announced his departure on a Sunday afternoon on Instagram yesterday:
"Well, that's it. After nearly 24 and a half years, my time @oakridgewines has come to an end. It's been an amazing ride, taking what was broken winery to the top of the industry with an unwavering commitment to quality and plenty of hard graft. Some really good times with some really good people.
"They say you never know you're going to get boned until you do. And so it is. Thankfully, I leave a highly trained, capable and talented team for the next piece of history. Your support for them would mean a lot to me. Love my team."
This is a major moment in Australian wine; it will be marked into Australian wine history. It comes too amid an ugly re-direction of the Endeavour behemoth [Party is over at Pinnacle Drinks].
Under Bicknell, Oakridge won Winemaker of the Year (Gourmet Traveller WINE, 2017), Winery of the Year (No. 1 in the Halliday Wine Companion Top 100, 2023; The Real Review Winery of the Year, 2023) and Wine of the Year (Halliday Wine Companion 2025, for the Oakridge 864 Chardonnay). No other Australian winery of the modern era has been so completely the work of one winemaker's sustained attention, across three separate ownerships, on the same site.
Bicknell’s efforts at Oakridge with chardonnay have been so great that he has turned the co-captains of Australian chardonnay – Leeuwin Estate and Giaconda – into a holy trinity.
The response to the announcement, from across the industry, tells you what Bicknell means to Australian wine. "If there's any reference to the seismic shift in Australian Chardonnay and where it came from, you are the very first person on the list," wrote Marcus Satchell of Dirty Three Wines. "What a mark you have made, Mr Chardonnay," wrote winemaker Kate Goodman. "Legend," offered Tim Kirk of Clonakilla, "is right."
"We love you Dave," wrote Langtons general manager Tamara Grischy, "and you are an absolute legend and your way with wine is seriously special and inspiring." From Steve Faulkner, the viticulturist who worked alongside Bicknell at Oakridge: "You have built a career and legacy with integrity, pure grit and determination and the one question 'Will it make better wine?'"
And perhaps the ultimate acknowledgement, from Julian Gutierrez: "We drink more Oakridge wines in my home than any other producer."
I have a particular stake in this story. Twenty-four years ago, I wrote the first article on the "new" Oakridge – for the now-defunct Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine. Evans & Tate had just taken control of what was then a run-down winery, and had installed a young winemaker out of De Bortoli named David Bicknell. Little did we know. The article itself is as unremarkable as an article can be; its only merit is that it was written at the start of what became a legendary rise. It reads differently now.
Excerpts from that 2002 article:
It was 40 degrees and stinkingly windy the day before I visited the Oakridge winery in the Yarra Valley, but just as I stepped from my car the cool change struck – bold and insistent as tannin. The bronzed terracotta tiles that flow out from the winery's large front windows, baking only seconds before, suddenly flashed with water. It turned out to be a fitting introduction, because there's no doubt that Oakridge has changed direction, and rapidly, over the past 18 months. That was when Evans & Tate took control, and because wineries deal in growing seasons – because it takes time to grow into your environment – the changes are only now starting to announce themselves.
Since 1984, when Oakridge released its first wines, it has had an illustrious but variable reputation, built mostly on cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz. In the words of new winemaker David Bicknell – a 10-vintage veteran of De Bortoli – that era is largely over. The focus now is firmly on the Yarra Valley's more modern trademarks: chardonnay, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc.
"There's no grand plan," Bicknell says. "The wines will express themselves. If we get the viticulture right – and we will – then our job will simply be to ensure that nothing is stuffed up in the winery.
"We'll still make good cabernet and merlot. I just get the feeling that sauvignon blanc and chardonnay didn't get as much love in the past, and I want to make sure that all the wines get a lot of love."
And so when I headed back out to my car, it seemed as though the acres of vines in front of me were lifting before my eyes – almost singing in the persistence of the rain. A thunderstorm had arrived, physically. And a thunderstorm had arrived, in spirit.
"If we get the viticulture right – and we will." Bicknell said these words in his first months in the job, and then he spent 24 and a half years making it true. The wine that would eventually be named Australia's Wine of the Year – the 864 Chardonnay – takes its name from the winery's street address, 864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream: the same address printed at the foot of that original article. Chardonnay, a variety Bicknell singled out in 2002 as not having had enough love, became the variety on which Oakridge's modern reputation was built.
Bicknell leaves behind, in his own words, "a highly trained, capable and talented team for the next piece of history." He continues to make wine under Bicknell FC, the label he has run with partner Nicky Harris since 2011 [Winefront Reviews of Bicknell FC]. This though is not an obituary; you don’t achieve the above and then just fade away. This is not the end of Dave Bicknell.
But it is, dramatically, the end of his time at Oakridge.
David Bicknell and Oakridge — the record, 2001–2026
Who is David Bicknell?
David Bicknell is one of Australia's most acclaimed winemakers, chief winemaker at Oakridge in the Yarra Valley from 2002 until July 2026 – a tenure of nearly 24 and a half years. He graduated from Roseworthy College in 1993 and spent 10 vintages at De Bortoli in the Yarra Valley, with stints in Burgundy (Louis Latour), Alsace (Paul Blanck) and Beaujolais (Château Bluizard), before joining Oakridge.
Why did David Bicknell leave Oakridge?
His role was terminated by Endeavour Group, Oakridge's owner since 2021. He announced the departure on Instagram on 12 July 2026, writing "you never know you're going to get boned until you do."
What did Oakridge achieve under David Bicknell?
Wine of the Year, Halliday Wine Companion 2025 — Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Drive Block Chardonnay 2022 (98 points), which also won White Wine of the Year and Chardonnay of the Year.
No. 1 winery in Australia — Halliday Wine Companion's inaugural Top 100 Wineries, 2023 (chosen by Mattinson).
Winery of the Year 2023 — The Real Review.
Best Value Winery of the Year — Halliday Wine Companion Awards 2024.
Winemaker of the Year 2017 — David Bicknell, Gourmet Traveller WINE.
Best Chardonnay in Australia — Halliday Wine Companion 2022 (864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2019), plus Best Victorian Chardonnay at the 2021 Melbourne Royal Wine Show.
Langton's Classification — Oakridge 864 Chardonnay inducted, 2018.
Champion Victorian Winery — 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
Top 5-star Halliday winery rating every year from 2009 onwards — 16+ consecutive years.
Over 500 trophies and medals, domestic and international, across all styles and price points.
What else is Bicknell known for?
Dux of the Len Evans Tutorial (2005); co-founder of the Victorian Pinot Noir Workshop (2002); Chairman of Judges, Melbourne Wine Show (2011–2013) and the National Wine Show of Australia (2019–2023); the Bicknell FC label (est. 2011, with Nicky Harris).
What is Oakridge 864?
Oakridge's flagship single-vineyard wine series, named after the winery's address at 864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream. The 864 Chardonnay, from the Funder & Diamond vineyard's Drive Block, is its most celebrated wine: Langton's-classified and Australia's 2025 Wine of the Year.
Who has owned Oakridge?
Founded by the Zitzlaff family (first vines 1978, first wines 1984); acquired by Evans & Tate in 2001 (which appointed Bicknell); owned by the D'Aloisio/Atlas families 2007–2021 after Evans & Tate's collapse; acquired in 2021 by Paragon Wine Estates, part of Endeavour Group.
Timeline: the Bicknell/Oakridge era
1978 — First Oakridge vines planted by the Zitzlaff family, Wandin East.
1984 — First Oakridge wines released.
1998 — Winery and cellar door open at 864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream.
2001 — Evans & Tate acquires the run-down Oakridge; David Bicknell (ex De Bortoli, Roseworthy '93) appointed.
2002 — Bicknell takes charge of winemaking; co-founds the Victorian Pinot Noir Workshop. Campbell Mattinson writes the first article on the "new" Oakridge for Gourmet Traveller WINE.
2005 — Dux, Len Evans Tutorial.
2007 — Evans & Tate collapses; Oakridge bought by the D'Aloisio/Atlas families.
2009 — Begins unbroken run of Halliday top 5-star winery ratings.
2011 — Launches side label Bicknell FC with Nicky Harris.
2017 — Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year.
2018 — Oakridge 864 Chardonnay inducted into the Langton's Classification.
2021 — Oakridge sold to Paragon Wine Estates (Endeavour Group). 864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2019 named Best Chardonnay in Australia (Halliday 2022).
2022 — Champion Victorian Winery, Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
2023 — No. 1, Halliday Wine Companion Top 100 Wineries; The Real Review Winery of the Year.
2024 — Best Value Winery of the Year, Halliday Wine Companion Awards.
2024 (Aug) — 864 Funder & Diamond Drive Block Chardonnay 2022 named Australian Wine of the Year, Halliday Wine Companion 2025 (also White Wine and Chardonnay of the Year).
2026 (12 July) — Bicknell announces his departure after nearly 24.5 years, let go by Endeavour Group.
Campbell Mattinson wrote the first article on the "new" Oakridge for Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine in 2002, months after David Bicknell's appointment.
Oakridge is obviously a Mattinson 10-Star Winery [Oakridge 10-Star Entry].
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Picture courtesy Oakridge wines, converted to B&W.
