Setting up Rikard in Orange is something of a full-circle moment for William Rikard-Bell, who started his winemaking career here in the early 2000s under Murray Smith of Canolobolas Smith. After graduating from Charles Sturt University’s wine science program in 2005, he was drawn to the Hunter Valley, where he started working for Drayton Family Wines. Tragedy struck in January 2008, when an explosion caused by sparks from welding igniting a vat of distilled grape spirit killed winemaker Trevor Drayton and boilermaker Edgar Orgo. Rikard-Bell was in the winery at the time, and suffered third-degree burns to over 70% of his body – surviving only by leaping into a nearby dam.
The accident prompted some soul-searching for Rikard-Bell during the recovery process – and some daring action not long after. In his words, it “motivated me take the risk by resigning from a job I was stagnating in and re-evaluate my goals and dreams. A return to cool climate, minimal interventionist winemaking was what excited me, as it had at the beginning of my career.” That meant a return to the Orange region, where he set out his shingle as an independent contract winemaker for established wineries. “That side of the business afforded me the opportunity to make wine from almost every vineyard in the region in a short period of time,” he says – an inside scoop that would soon pay dividends. “It didn’t take long to realise that the fruit and wines I liked most came from the higher sites on Mount Canobolas. In 2015, I was offered some beautiful Pinot Noir from 1040 metres [on Canobolas] and frankly, couldn’t say no! It was earlier than I had planned to start [my] own label, but the opportunity to make fruit like that into your own wine doesn’t come around often.” With this, the Rikard label was born.
Rikard’s growth since that first pinot has been impressive. The label now owns or manages three vineyards in the region, and as of vintage 2025 will produce all of its wines from fruit it produces itself. Much of that growth comes down to Rikard-Bell’s relentless focus on demonstrating the quality that is possible within this emerging region. “I am making wine that I want to drink,” he says. “I have no interest in making cheap, simple or mediocre wines. That doesn’t inspire me. The greatest, most alluring, complex and intriguing wines of the world inspire me, and I want to make wines like those.”
“I have no interest in making cheap, simple or mediocre wines. That doesn’t inspire me. The greatest, most alluring, complex and intriguing wines of the world inspire me, and I want to make wines like those.”
For Rikard-Bell, that potential for greatness starts with the region itself. “Orange is a unique wine region in that it is defined by altitude,” he says. “It ranges from 600 metres to 1100 metres and has a wide range of micro-climates in a relatively small area. It therefore allows every producer in the region a very different terroir to most others around them and the opportunity to create their own style, according to their own taste and chosen varieties.” For his taste, this means climbing to the cooler high reaches of Canobolas. “It’s a proper cool, continental climate where I can make cool-climate styles,” he adds. “It has adequate rainfall for dry-grown viticulture. It is established but has scope for expansion, with many sites still available to be planted to grapes.”
Having found the right terroir, the next challenge is to farm it correctly. Rikard-Bell planted in his La Cloche vineyard in 2019, and took ownership of an abandoned vineyard (aptly renamed Resurrection) in 2021 – now the plans are to farm these regeneratively. He eschews herbicides and pesticides, and has planted in native species to aid biodiversity and attract helpful insect life. Pruning is based on the Simonit and Sirch version of the Guyot–Poussard regime – a system that requires significant amounts of extra labour and knowledge compared to others. He plans to start planting mixed cover crows in the mid-rows at both vineyards as of this year.
The hard work is paying off. “We’re noticing a big improvement in fruit quality from year to year,” Rikard-Bell says. “The general health and vigour of the canopy has increased dramatically, and the vines holding their leaves much longer. We’re seeing a longer, slower ripening of fruit, thicker skins, better acid retention. In the pinot, this is manifesting into some intense tannin structure, the likes of which we don’t often see in Orange pinot noir. A lovely thing to have, and therefore we are being careful about our stalk work with this fruit. It doesn’t appear to need much. The riesling can afford longer hang time given the super high acid levels and therefore ripens into a different flavour spectrum – more apricot and melon and orange rind characters, less lime and lemon.”
While Canobolas’s altitude helps keep his fruit fresh and vibrant, its soils perhaps offer the vines too much of a good thing. “Our soils are young,” he says. “They’re deep, volcanic, basaltic soils which are relatively fertile. Fabulous for growing things, but sometimes vigour in vines can be a challenge. We need to be meticulous with our pruning, crop-load and canopy management during the growing season.” If he’s managed this vigour properly, it’s happy days for white wines. “In our wines, the climate and soils translates into a lot of fruit weight,” he adds. “In chardonnay, this is fabulous because you get wonderful acidity and intensity. Same goes for riesling.”
“I like to use multiple blending components when making our wines – different picks, clones, vineyards, winemaking techniques – to build more variation in the spectrum of flavours.”
It’s a more difficult balancing act for red wine, though. “Reds are an interesting equation,” Rikard-Bell says, “because despite lots of mid-palate weight and intensity, they can often lack structure. I wonder whether that’s because of our lower latitude and summer sunlight hours? In pinot noir, therefore, stalk inclusion is often necessary as a tannin input. This necessitates close examination of the stalk ripeness before harvest, however. Careful oak management is also necessary, and extended maceration on skins helps, too.”
In the winery, Rikard-Bell keeps things relatively simple, leaning on attention to detail over gadgetry. “We use traditional methods in the winery with modern sophistication,” he says, with the aim being “to showcase a variety’s complexity over its simplicity, always. I like to use multiple blending components when making our wines – different picks, clones, vineyards, winemaking techniques – to build more variation in the spectrum of flavours and ultimately a more delicious end product.”
This less-is-more approach requires patience: “You’ve got to give wines time to reach their natural equilibrium,” Rikard-Bell adds. “Yes, you might have to release a wine later what most wine brands do, but it means we can avoid the addition of a lot of artificial products into the wine that may hurry a wine to bottle but in the end, only reduce the quality, interest and complexity of that wine.”
Not that Rikard-Bell’s in a rush – his injury and recovery have given him a view of winemaking life that’s focused on the long game. “Life is short and vintages are few,” he says. “I want to build a legacy in Orange that my kids might want to continue and to do it sustainably, honestly, and with integrity. So, I’ll continue to surround myself with like-minded, passionate people and to enjoy what I do until I’m too old to do it.”
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