2025 Bicknell FC Applecross Pinot Noir

96 pts
Gorgeously fragrant, precise Yarra Pinot from Dave Bicknell's own label.

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Sale price$65.00
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Re-stocking, ships in 2-5 business days
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Description

"Undoubtedly one of our finest winemakers"
- Toni Paterson MW (Gourmet Traveller Wine)

Dave Bicknell spent a quarter century building Oakridge into one of Australia's great wineries. Bicknell FC is what he does for himself, now full-time - smaller, freer, and entirely on his own terms.

The Applecross Pinot comes from the Lance Vineyard in St Andrews, a site with vines going back to 1976 that Dave and Nicky Harris secured when they needed a new home for this wine. It's the kind of old, established block that makes a winemaker's job easier - and Dave's job here, as always, is mostly to stay out of the way.

The style is everything you'd expect from him: fragrant and lifted on the nose, with raspberry, dried flowers and a whisper of spice, then bright and energetic on the palate with glossy red fruit and fine, lacy tannin threading through to a clean, Campari-edged finish. A little more depth than the 2024, but the same lightness of touch that's become the Bicknell FC signature.

Drink it now or hold it for five to seven years.

96+ points
"A pure-fruited nose with its perfumed aromas of raspberry, redcurrant and some subtle, whole-bunch-derived spice and dried flowers. Fills out ever so nicely on the energetic palate.”
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

94 points
"This is pretty stuff. It sits up high in the palate with a glossiness and a nipping bite."
- Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

96+ points - "A light, bright crimson. A pure-fruited nose with its perfumed aromas of raspberry, redcurrant and some subtle, whole-bunch-derived spice and dried flowers. Fills out ever so nicely on the energetic palate, which has a little more stuffing than the '24 without sacrificing that lightness of touch that pervades David Bicknell's pinots. Superfine, very persistent tannins round out a beautifully put-together wine that can be enjoyed now and that will continue to evolve over the next five to seven years at least." - Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

94 points - "This is pretty stuff. It sits up high in the palate with a glossiness and a nipping bite. It’s fragrant in wild forest berries, pickled cherry, white pepper, Autumn leaves and cardamom. The flavour profile is decidedly perky, set to redder fruits, quite deep in its concentration and yet, as said, uplifted on rivulets of blood orange perkiness and a Campari-like finish to dry. A shimmy of very fine, lacy tannin in a web lends some control. Shiny as." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

Hand picked between February 19-21st 2025 between 12.5 - 12.8 baume. The 777 clone (24% of the blend, 3.8 t/Ha) was fermented separately without the inclusion of whole bunches. The MV6 Mt Mary massale selections from 1976 (38%, 3.1 t/Ha) and 1998 (38%, 3.1 t/Ha) were fermented together with 20% of the fruit as whole bunches. Ferments were pumped over twice/day for 12 days before the fermenters were foot stomped to aid in extraction. After pressing at 14 days, the wines transferred to a mix of barriques, hogsheads and puncheons where it completed malolactic conversion and rested on its lees for 11 months maturation before bottling in February 2026.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Light Bodied
Variety Pinot Noir
Country Australia
Region Yarra Valley
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
The Wine Front
Critic Score 96
Alcohol 13%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2025
Closure Screw Cap

Bicknell FC

Dave Bicknell spent nearly 25 years as chief winemaker at Oakridge, turning it into one of Australia's most celebrated producers and winning Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year along the way.

Bicknell FC is his own thing - started in 2011 with partner Nicky Harris, built around sourcing fruit from vineyards of genuine character and making authentic, delicious wines that really reflect Dave's winemaking philosophies and their distinct vineyards.

Parcels from sites like the storied Bastard Hill in Gladysdale and the Lance Vineyard in St Andrews, planted in 1975, give these wines a sense of place that's hard to manufacture. The style is precise, aromatic and food-friendly - what Dave calls "wines for the throat, not for the head."

Back in 2026 Bicknell FC won Halliday's 'Best New Winery', and a decade on this exciting brand is now his full-time focus.

Small production, serious pedigree, stunning cool climate wines.

Winemaking legend David Bicknell Bicknell FC

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