Our Consultants
We believe the acronym of
LUCK is. . . .
Labouring Under Correct Knowledge
That’s exactly what we receive from our consultants, "correct knowledge".
Between both of them, they have some 65 years in the Wine & Viticultural industry and with that depth of experience which has been gained by these gentlemen; we firmly believe we have “LUCK” on our side.
The only thing they can't do is control the weather and given that winegrape growing is an agricultural pursuit, we just have to learn to live with uncertainty.
The Winemaker: John Wade
Rickety Gate Wines have the honour of having John as our Winemaker.
In 1982, John created the award winning Wynns - Coonawarra "John Riddoch" wine that was named Best Red Wine in Australia, not once, but twice. The extent of his recognition can be seen in reviews about his 1994 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon. James Halliday, including it in his top 20 Australian premium red wines for 1996.
James commented: "It is a long time since I have given a young table wine 19.5 points out of 20, but I did so when I first tasted this wine, and see no reason to change my view."
On the West Coast, renowned wine critic Ray Jordan in selecting the same wine in his top dozen red Western Australian wines wrote: "This is now recognised as one of Australia's - not merely WA's - great red wines. And this probably the best yet from the master, John Wade. A powerhouse of flavour intensity with refinement and style. Has a depth of flavour you get in only the very best cabernets. A great wine that you should get, if for no other reason than to benchmark every other Australian cabernet you try".
John Wade holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science) and began his winemaking career in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. At Wynns, he quickly achieved promotion from assistant winemaker to winery manager, a position he held for six years. In Western Australia, he worked as consultant winemaker with leading Great Southern producers Alkoomi and Goundrey Wines for 2 years and was then appointed senior winemaker with pioneering Plantaganet Wines, a position he held for six years. John has undertaken vintage work in France - at Chateau Senejac in Margaux (Cru Bourgeois) and Chateau Pontet-Canet in Pauillac (5th Growth). In 1995 he worked as winemaker at the new Tenuta di Trinoro estate in Southern Tuscany.
In 1986 John founded the Howard Park Winery and in 1992 he also established the Madfish Bay label. Since 1999, he has worked as a wine industry consultant.
The Viticultural Consultant: Ted Holland 
Between 1970 and 1997, Ted developed and managed the first large-scale vineyard in the Great Southern region - first on behalf of the Rowe family and then as manager for B.R.L Hardy.
Under Ted's management, fruit from the vineyard produced many award winning wines under the Houghton label. He has lectured in viticulture at the Mt Barker and Denmark TAFE campuses.