The tasting was staged by John Vickery as part of a celebration of his appointment as chief of Pernod Ricard's Barossa Richmond Grove winery at Tanunda, previously Chateau Leonay and before that Orange Grove. The wines dated back to 1972 and came largely from John's 25 years of crafting rieslings for the Leo Buring label.

I was blown away by the amazing freshness of the Buring 1972 DWB15 Eden Valley riesling, the DWB13 Watervale and the 1973 DWC15 Watervale - a wine from the Clare Valley Florita vineyard now owned by Jim Barry Wines.

Rieslings like these and his pioneering of screwcaps were instrumental in John Vickery being voted Australia's best living winemaker in a 2003 poll of 50 winemakers, educators, wine buyers and sommeliers conducted by Melbourne wine writer Jeni Port.

John's talents, however, weren't solely in rieslings - while winemaker-manager of Lindeman's Coonawarra winery his 1980 St George Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon won 1981 Melbourne Wine Show's coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy. In 2007 he was awarded the Order of Australia and, after 57 years working for Woodleys, Leo Buring, Rouge Homme, Lindeman's, Southcorp and Pernod Ricard, he retired in 2009.

His name and great skills have not been lost, however, because in 2014 the Vickery brand was launched in collaboration with the WD Wines company headed by CEO Jonathon Hesketh.

The Clare Valley Watervale and Barossa Eden Valley rieslings, the 2019 vintages of which are reviewed below, are made by John and WD group winemaker Keeda Zilm at the Moppa Vintners facility in the Barossa.

John regularly goes to the winery to taste the wines and to ensure his standards of excellence are maintained.

Now 87, he grew up in the Mallee area of Lameroo in SA, where his father was school headmaster and the rest of the family were farmers.

After school his father wanted him to do dentistry, but he opted for an agriculture course and then a Roseworthy winemaking degree.

As a student he 'earned drinking money' driving cabs in Port Adelaide and in 1952 he and Hunter Valley friend Harry Tulloch, later to become one of Australia's most acclaimed viticulturists, rode their AJS 350 cc bikes across the Nullarbor to do a vintage in WA. That episode reflected John's great love of motor cycling and his collection of numerous vintage British AJS, Matchless and Ariel machines.

STRAW-HUED and passionfruit-scented, the Vickery 2019 Watervale Riesling comes from Clare Valley growers Anthony and Chris Koerner and Kym and Rose Castine. The front palate features vibrant ruby grapefruit flavour and the middle palate preserved lemon, lime zest, pineapple and gunmetal elements. Flinty acid refreshes at the finish.

PRICE: $23.

DRINK WITH: seafood crepes.

AGEING: 10 years.

RATING: 5 stars

THE Vickery 2019 Eden Valley Riesling and other Vickery wines are at vickerywines.com.au, Dan Murphy's and BWS and independent wine stores. It is green-tinted straw and has orange blossom and bay leaf aromas. The front palate has crisp lime flavour, the middle palate nashi pear, lemon curd and mineral elements and the finish slatey acid.

PRICE: $23.

DRINK WITH: sashimi.

AGEING: eight years.

RATING: 4.5 stars

FROM the fun brand created in 2013 by the Wingara Group, the pinot noir-based La La Land 2019 Rosé has 13.5% alcohol, coppery hues and persimmon scents. Lifted strawberry flavour features on the front palate, peaches and cream, apple peel and spice on the middle palate and steely acid at the finish. It's widely available in bottle shops.

PRICE: $18.

DRINK WITH: ham salad.

AGEING: drink now.

RATING: 4 stars