Another day, another Endeavour outcast going great

Oakridge is (or was) David Bicknell.

As he pointed out in his goodbye message on Instagram, over 24 years, Bicknell has taken a ‘broken winery to the top of the industry with an unwavering commitment to quality and plenty of hard graft’.

Yet the accolades didn’t save him, with Bicknell amongst a few winemakers caught up in the Endeavour sale-athon (and redundancy spree) that we talked about last week. I don’t understand why you’d sell off the brand without its talismanic winemaker asset, but then again the Endeavour winery clearout isn’t about emotions, it’s about pure corporate cost-cutting ( which remains the mortal enemy of capital-hungry wineries everywhere) from a brand desperate to turn around profitability.

Meanwhile, a cursory search on this site will reveal just how fine the Oakridge wines have been in recent years too, just to remind what’s on the chopping block. Please, let a new owner step in who will pick up the team and keep the Oakridge fire burning (could probably just rehire Dave and you’re good to go).

Here are a few more quality wines to add to Bicknell’s liquid portfolio.

Wines reviewed below:

Oakridge Blanc de Blancs 2019

Oakridge Hazeldene Chardonnay 2024

Oakridge Hazeldene Pinot Gris 2025

Oakridge Hazeldene Pinot Noir 2024

Oakridge Horst Riesling 2025

Oakridge Hyde Park Shiraz 2024

Oakridge Meunier 2025

Oakridge Oakridge Vineyard Shiraz 2024

Oakridge Willowlake Chardonnay 2024

Oakridge Willowlake Pinot Noir 2024

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