The Auswine Forum

Just noticed that John Vickery passed away last saturday 23/9
https://wbmonline.com.au/death-of-john-vickery/
Remember a fantastic night with him when our club tasted through 20+ of his wines from 1979 to 2010.
GOAT Aussie Riesling maker (to date).

Some of his LB’s from the 70s are among the greatest wines made in Oz….

Agree Mike, very fortunate years ago to purchase some 1972/4/8 Leonay's for a song. Will dig out a host of Richmond Grove and raise a glass.

a great loss.
Cheers Craig

Such sad news. A great man who left a legacy that few would achieve in 10 lifetimes.
Vale John Vickery Master of Riesling

Sad news. I cut my wine drinking teeth with some of his Richmond Grove wines.

Such sad news.

His honesty and humility was quite refreshing and, along with Ray Beckwith, were two of the unsung heroes of the Australian wine industry. Sure Schubert, O'Shea, Preece et.al. achieved a lot but Vickery was relatively unknown. I vividly remember his DWC17 1973 Eden Valley Riesling, enjoying a number of bottles in the late '70's and early '80's - just a magnificent white.
( I also remember the Riesling boom of the early/mid '70's when Lindemans (Buring) and Orlando were offering a $250/tonne bonus on top of the $350/tonne for EV Riesling - worth over $4,000/tonne on today's money.)

Here’s a couple of adds I found in an old magazine.

Cheers Con.

Here’s another one, love the quote.

Cheers Con.

Nice Con.

I’ve bought a few of the rieslings at auction over the last month and hopefully we can have a tasting soon - have the 96,97, 98, 99, 01 , 02, 08, 12 and 13. Just the Limited Release Watervale.

Very sad. In my early wine days his rieslings turned my head and I never looked back. Just loved his wines.

Had my first bottle last night - a 97 Richmond Grove Watervale. Superb. Cork was fine and this very quickly opened up into a lovely wine with honey, toast and petrol on the nose and more creamy, toasty, yellow fruit in the mouth. Acidity was there to keep it fresh. Last months 04 Sepplt Drumborg was probably a better wine, but there was not a lot in it. Obviously, when the cork Gods shine, it’s the preferred stopper as the aging seems to take place at a better pace than with the cap, but overall I still would take the reliability of the screwcap over the variability of the cork.