Vickery Watervale Riesling 2023

"John Vickery is in the same league as Max Schubert and other great winemakers, most of whom are known for their reds."  Jeffrey Grosset 

John Vickery is the acknowledged old master of Riesling in Australia, with an illustrious career spanning nearly sixty years. In that time he has amassed an extraordinary awards tally of more than fifty Trophies and over four hundred Gold Medals.

"I’ve banged on a lot here about how well Vickery rieslings age but, quite honestly, they’re so ravishingly delicious in the first year or so after vintage it’s a miracle any bottles get the chance to fulfil their cellaring potential. Bursting with ripe citrus flavour – squishy lime pulp, mandarin peel – this one fills the mouth with intensity and deliciousness."  Max Allen

"Fruit was sourced from the vineyards of our dedicated growers; the Stanway' Slate Creek Vineyard (1975 plantings), Blenheim' Grace's Vineyard (1991 plantings), Koerner'  G6 & G10 Blocks (2001 & 2002 plantings), Castine' Hayshed Block (1999 plantings), Bryksy' Hickey’s Vineyard (2003 plantings) and Koerner' Dunstan’s Block (2017 plantings).

Pale yellow, with a tinge of green. On the nose apple blossom, hints of fennel and juicy, ripe stone fruits. A year showing full flavour ripeness, finesse and bright, balanced natural acidity. This wine is generous with a lovely zest. As with all Vickery Rieslings, this wine will be bright and fresh in its youth yet will reward careful cellaring for 10 -20 years."  Vickery Wines 

Expert reviews

"Yet another great vintage in Clare - 3 in a row now! Slightly richer and fuller than the stunning 2022 release, but shares the same pure lemon and lime juice characters and sea of fine and taut acidity. A veritable bargain."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines - 96 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Dried flower and tropical fruit aromas, a bouquet of dried wildflowers, impressively rich and full in the mouth, with refinement and great length. A super-impressive young riesling. Drink: 2024-2033."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 95 points

"I’ve banged on a lot here about how well Vickery rieslings age but, quite honestly, they’re so ravishingly delicious in the first year or so after vintage it’s a miracle any bottles get the chance to fulfil their cellaring potential. Bursting with ripe citrus flavour – squishy lime pulp, mandarin peel – this one fills the mouth with intensity and deliciousness."  Max Allen, Australian Financial Review

"Tasted from a special magnum commemorating the 10th anniversary of this sub-regional release. The fruit is from several vineyard sources, with some of the material dating back to plantings from 1975. Quintessential Clare Valley riffs on Rose’s lime juice, quince paste, tonic, preserved lemon rind, wild fennel and gardenias. Dry and medium-bodied by virtue of the sheer extract and density of the mouthfeel. Yet despite the dryness, there is nothing hard. Tactile and impressively juicy across a tenacious finish. Impressive. Drink or hold. Screw cap."  Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com - 94 points

"Another great Clare Riesling to add to your black book, you can find this around the traps for under 20 bucks. At that price, you have quite the bargain on your hands. A blend of seven blocks, this opens with a flurry of lemons and limes. Pretty scents of bath salt perfume and white flowers elevate the experience. Juicy green apples run riot with minerally and talc feels wrapped up by crisp acidity. Fabulous drinking hands down."  Steve Leszczynski, Qwine - 94 points

"This 2023 Watervale Riesling leads with scratched lime and spring flowers, bath salts and lavender. The wine is plush, mouthfilling, textural, quenching and beautiful. Most importantly, it's a pleasure to drink this. It's lovely! Drink: 2023-2033."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 93 points

"I remember reading a 'Divine' magazine (anyone remember that?) many years ago on the 2002 Clare vintage. It mentioned some markers for the vintage, Christmas lily was one (tick), another was similar to letting a flake of sea salt melt on your tongue. I get that here, too. Quite concentrated with pure lime, apple and grapefruit, plenty of mineral swagger and cadence and a long, quite concentrated finish showing makrut lime, lemongrass and concentrated limey fruit. Drink by 2035."  Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion - 93 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"This fine and subtle 2023 Riesling opens up with serene aromas of lime zest, lemon pith and hints of manadarin skin with stony/spicy complexity. Laser-like acidity follows, providing a taut experience, more stony nuances on display before delivering a powerful, yet feather-weight finish, accented by talcum powder tannin with quite phenomenal length to close. It’s a sleeper that will deliver plenty over time. Epic value. Drink: 2028-2040."  Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot – 93 points

Awards

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 
Special Value Wine – Canterbury Wines  ★ 

John Vickery

John Vickery is the acknowledged old master of Riesling in Australia, with an illustrious career spanning nearly sixty years, culminating in the extraordinary awards tally of more than fifty Trophies and over four hundred Gold Medals.

John Vickery has been instrumental in shaping the history of Riesling in Australia. Working his first vintage back in 1951, John Vickery built his illustrious career around strict attention to detail and old-fashioned hard work. His fastidious nature and particular ways are legendary and an integral part of greatness.

His mastery began with Leo Buring in 1955 at Chateau Leonay winery, where the focus was on Eden Valley and Watervale fruit. Without any modern-day processing, equipment winemaking was quite a crude process, which shows true testament to his outstanding ability. Vickery’s hallmark approaches were cool fermentation and careful handling, so it was in the latter years with the introduction of refrigeration and airbag presses, that John was best able to capture the Riesling grape’s fine delicate flavours.

With more than fifty Trophies, over four hundred Gold Medals and a Jimmy Watson for good measure, John Vickery is recognized as an inspiration and benchmark for many young (and old) winemakers. Highlights of his career include winning the 2007 Wolf Blass Riesling Award at the Canberra International Riesling Challenge. He was humbled to be judged by his peers as Australia’s Greatest Living Winemaker in a survey conducted by Epicure in 2003. However, he considers his most rewarding contribution to the Australian Wine Industry is being the first to re-introduce the screw cap with the 1998 Richmond Grove Watervale and Barossa Rieslings. This was by any measure the single most significant event in the improvement in the quality of Australian Riesling. In 2007 John was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for 'service to the wine industry as an oenologist, particularly through the development of innovative methods for Riesling production.'

About Vickery Wines

Although John Vickery is in his mid-80s and retired for many years, his name endures on the labels of riesling wines produced by the Hesketh family’s WD Wines group. John Vickery, Robert Hesketh and the late Peter Lehmann were all close friends and contemporaries as well as business associates. When Peter's son Philip Lehmann was winemaker for WD Wines, the Vickery brand was created and John Vickery was invited to consult. The first wine released under the Vickery label was the 2014 Watervale Riesling and since then a Clare Valley and Eden Valley Riesling have been made each year.

Today Vickery Wines is John's winemaking experience partnered alongside the talented winemaking team of Keeda Zim and Andrew Hardy. Together they create Rieslings that showcase John's extensive expertise with the variety.

"The wines are made very much in the Vickery style" says Hesketh. "That means absolute flavour. John is massive on flavour. He believes most of the flavour is in the pressings, so some pressings are put back into the wine after the primary free-run fermentation. Light pressings, not heavy. So there’s less austerity in a Vickery wine. John is also a stickler for detail, he’s pedantic about quality and attention to detail."

Vickery in his heyday was also known to be almost fanatical about cleanliness; winery hygiene was scrupulous. Every drip of wine had to be cleaned up pronto. Vickery may have slowed down a bit, but he’s still involved in the process, particularly picking dates and blending.

"John has been involved in every vintage. He loves going into the vineyards and discussing picking times. He’s also involved in the blending with the winemakers, Keeda Zilm and Andrew Hardy. The Vickery wines are more about how John does things, which is inevitably different to the way Andrew or Keeda does things. Both have made a lot of riesling in their time, Hardy at Knappstein, then Petaluma, and Zilm at O’Leary Walker. But, with the Vickery wines, the man himself still calls the shots.

Large sections of the above text were taken from an article by Huon Hooke in the Real Review titled "Vickery the riesling master".

Sadly, John Vickery,  the father of Riesling in Australia, died on 23rd September 2023 at the age of 90.