Gourmet Traveller WINE Len Evans Award winner 2011: Dr Edgar Riek OAM
With a distinguished scientific background, Dr Edgar Riek brought a sharp analytical mind to our wine industry. He focused his energies on developing the Canberra District as a wine region and was integral to the National Wine Show.
Leaders operate in different ways. Some are forceful orators or use brief sound-bites to grab short attention spans. Others lead through example, considered advice and calm persuasion, gaining respect amongst colleagues without becoming widely known outside their endeavours. Dr Edgar Riek is one of the latter.
When speaking with Canberra wine-makers or researching previous nominees in these awards, I was impressed by the number who credited Riek with good advice or a start in the industry. Alex McKay of Collector, for instance, met him in a Canberra restaurant where McKay was washing dishes and a conversation about wine led to a job on Riek’s bottling line. His leadership had clearly encompassed many areas of the industry.
Riek came to Canberra as an entomologist – an insect specialist – to work with CSIRO, where he published notable papers and books.
Owing to a keen interest in wine and the lack of good wine merchants in Canberra, Riek and several colleagues founded the Canberra Wine and Food Club in 1953, building their own premises in Barton, which they occupy to this day. Albert Caton, a long-term cellarmaster, told me, “He was always forthright in his comments. It was excellent having someone to speak technically and analytically, even if people didn’t always agree with him. He could always support his opinions.” Riek remains an active member.
His contacts in the wine industry, in particular Murray Tyrrell, Len Evans and Ray Kidd (then managing director of Lindemans and chairman of the Wine Committee at the Royal Sydney Wine Show) made him an obvious choice when Ron Rochford, the CEO of the National Capital Agricultural Society, decided it should hold a wine show. Riek took on the project and the Canberra Wine Show was first held in 1975, becoming the National Wine Show of Australia in 1977.
Bill Moore, for many years Riek’s right-hand man and later himself chair of the Wine Committee, remembers those days well. “Edgar had the right contacts and a very good palate, so Len and the others backed him because they saw the need for a national show. He was also methodical and a good communicator, so he was right for the role.”
Riek was responsible for introducing many innovations to Australia via the Show, including the auditing of wines entered by judging them alongside a purchased example. He also introduced overseas judges.
Although Riek later stepped aside from the Show, he remained as an advisor on management and technical issues.
Back in the late 1960s many new vineyards had been emerging around the country and these spurred the idea that he should try making wine himself. The Rieks had just bought a block on the east-facing slope above Lake George, where they had started growing a multitude of fruit trees, vegetables and flowers from which Riek bred and developed new varieties. Here, he planted his Lake George Vineyard in 1971, the same year as Dr John Kirk founded Clonakilla and together founded the Canberra wine region, although they hadn’t met at that stage. Kirk told me, “Edgar had the reputation as being knowledgeable on wine and horticultural matters – a fountain of knowledge.” Both became founder members of the Canberra District Vignerons’ Association.
What had first sparked his interest in wine-making? “Drinking it,” he replies. “I enjoyed it, the atmosphere and so on, so I wanted to learn about it. There was little information around that time, but I’d drunk so well with many winemakers of Australia that I knew the principles. Also, Alan Antcliffe [of CSIRO at Merbein] collaborated with me and I’d written The Canberra Gardener, so I knew about horticulture.”
Riek was an inquisitive winemaker, always experimenting, but with logic driving his choices. I remember his oloroso sherry made from chardonnay and his Pinot Noir Vintage Port. Pinot noir? Yes, the obvious choice in a cool region, as he could get only an early-ripening variety sufficiently ripe for fortified wine. He regards his pinot noirs as among his best winemaking accomplishments.
In 1996 Riek was awarded an OAM for his service to the wine industry and entomology. Although he sold his vineyard in 1997, he’s still a regular participant in local wine tastings and events and in 2010, to the acclaim of Canberra vignerons, passed his 90th birthday. He told Albert Caton “It’s not worth all the fuss. I’m only turning 90.” I’d disagree, and what’s more I’m prepared to bet that he’ll still be giving advice to colleagues for at least another nine years.
TEXT NICK BULLEID PHOTOGRAPHY DR EDGAR RIEK
This article is from the October/November 2011 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.