Pikes

Englishman Henry Pike emigrated to South Australia in 1878 and established a family brewing business. His great
grandson Edgar followed in his footsteps and established a wine business. Edgar’s sons Neil (winemaker) and Andrew
(viticulturist) now run Pikes Wines (established in 1984) which is situated in the verdant Polish Hill River sub-region of
the Clare Valley.
This estate is renowned for its Clare Valley Riesling with the iconic Pike fish label.

View all Pikes wines

Region

The winery is situated at Polish Hill River in the Clare Valley.

Profile

Englishman Henry Pike immigrated to South Australia in 1878 aboard the HMS Oakland. He settled in the small town of Oakbank in the Adelaide Hills and in 1886 established the family brewing business called H. Pike & Co. This name became well known throughout South Australia for its quality beer, soft drink and tonic ale, and the company used the English Pike fish on the label, which remains to this day - a symbol of Pikes' long heritage.

The sale of H. Pike & Co. in 1972 did not end the family tradition. Henry Pike's great grandson Edgar was well established in the wine industry as a private vigneron and as a vineyard manager for a large proprietary wine company. His sons, Andrew and Neil, have both followed in their father's footsteps. Since graduating from Roseworthy Agricultural College both have become proficient in their separate fields within the wine industry - Andrew in viticulture and management, and Neil in winemaking and marketing. Together they established Pikes in 1984.

Green Credentials

Nature Friendly

We have a tree planting project which has been in place for a number of years. We see this as a way of neutralising and/or reducing our carbon footprint. We have planted eucalyptus, swamp oaks and acacia's.

Organic / Biodynamic

We use organic fertilisers in the vineyard, and grow cover crops for 'green manure' in between the vine rows each year. We use copper and sulphur sprays (both organic) as preventative measures to control mildews.

Water Conservation policies

A dedication to responsible wastewater management beginning more than a decade ago has seen a Clare Valley winery receive full Environmental Protection Agency accreditation this year.

Pikes Wines in Sevenhill received the full EPA accreditation licence for its wastewater recycling system on 30 June. meaning that while the winery still undertakes routine monitoring with SA Water. it is trusted to irrigate using treated wastewater without periodic check-ups by the agency.

Lack of water has been a major issue at our winery for a number of years. We save as much rain water as possible, which is never enough. We have set up at great expense a winery waste water recycling plant. The recycled water is put back into the vineyard. We use a significant amount of cereal straw mulch in our vineyards to minimize the amount of water we require.

"We're trying to minimise our environmental footprint in all things we do".

Recycling of dry goods

We use quite a lot of recycled packaging, including cartons and bottles that use recycled glass. We also recycle all of our bottles and cartons that we use at cellar door.