Pikes

It's been quite a year for Pikes, with changes at every level going as far back as 2014, and before when plans were announced for a $1.57million visitors centre, including a 70-seat restaurant, a providore outlet, a new cellar door and a private wine room (augmenting the brewery that opened in '14). In late '17 Andrew's son Jamie returned home with extensive marketing experience gained through six years with Fine Wine Partners and several years working with a New Zealand winery. In August '16 Pikes had been given a $320 000 grant from the government's Regional Development Fund. In November '18 the snappy new tasting room and adjoining SLATE Restaurant were opened, slate a building/structural material widely used in the Clare Valley for fermenters. In April '19 the Family Succession Agreement saw changes that had long since been agreed, the most important the retirement in September '19 of Neil Pike after 35 years in the chief winemaker chair. Andrew Pike and wife Cathryn will acquire Neil's shareholding, sister Heather will remain as a shareholder, and Alister Pike comes on board (alongside Jaime) in running the beer operation. The two brothers will be the sixth generation by direct descent from patriarch Henry Pike, who arrived from England in 1878. Exports to the UK, the US, China, and other major markets.