The Pike family business patriarch, Henry Pike, emigrated from Dorsetshire England in 1878 onboard the HMS Oaklands with his heavily pregnant wife Emma and their four young children.

The family quickly settled in the Adelaide Hills where Henry found work in his trade as a carpenter. His other passion was brewing, a skill he was taught by his mother, Hannah, back in Dorset.

Henry found work as a builder at Johnstons Brewery (established in 1839) at Oakbank and also started making some ales and beer under his own name, which quickly became highly sought after.

The English Pike fish, which Henry loved to catch back in Dorset, became the logo on the first Pike's products sold and remains on all of our labels to this day.

In late 1885 'H.Pike & Son' was gazetted as a business and construction of Pikes Dorset Brewery commenced in 1886. The business flourished over the next 40 years or so with a succession of Henry's descendants taking the reins.

The outbreak of World War II and a serious wild yeast infection in the brewery effectively ended brewing operations at Pikes in the early 1940's. Beer production was outsourced to the 'Southwark' brewery in Adelaide and Pikes diversified into soft drinks, cordials and Tonic Ale. By this stage, the business had acquired a chain of hotels in the city and throughout the Adelaide Hills, and this had become the mainstay of the Pikes business.

By this time a young Edgar Walter Pike (great grandson of Henry) was looking for a future in the family business. Unfortunately due to the economic situation at the time, there was no such opportunity, and he made his own way to becoming a respected farm manager and ultimately becoming a manager of large corporate vineyards and a vineyard owner in his own right.

The old Pikes beverage and hotel business continued to deteriorate, eventually ceasing operations in the mid 1960's and all remaining assets were sold off in 1971.

The end of an era!

By this stage Edgar Pike was well established in the wine industry and his sons followed in their father's footsteps... Andrew into viticulture and management and Neil into wine production and marketing.

In 1984 the family purchased 27 hectares of prime viticultural land in the heart of the Polish Hill River sub region of the Clare Valley. The family, comprising of Andrew and his wife Cathy, Heather and Neil (together with their parents Edgar and Merle, providing security for a loan) pooled their resources to purchase the property.

In 1985 Pikes Wines 'Polish Hill River Estate' was established and Pikes released its first vintage of Polish Hill River Riesling and opened its first cellar door.

A new era begins!

The first few years after establishment were focussed on developing our Estate vineyards and finding a market for our newly released wines. All wine production was initially outsourced to nearby local wineries, however the dream was always to have our own fully operational winery.

So in 1988, the first stage of the Pikes winery was built and is progressively upgraded to allow all facets of wine production to be carried out under the one roof. Concurrently, additional vineyard and new varietals are produced and released under the fledgling Pikes label.

In 1992 a new Cellar Door is built into an old shearing shed on the Estate which dates back to the 1860's.

Pikes Polish Hill River Estate grows to approximately 100 hectares of vineyard, home to 20 different grape varieties.

Additional adjacent land is purchased and new vineyards are developed progressively from the mid 1990's through to the late 2000's. The winery is continuously expanded to cater for the increasing demand for Pikes Wines and a large air conditioned warehouse is built to ensure our wine is stored and matured in the very best conditions.

1996 saw the relaunch of Pikes Beer fulfilling a long held dream to see this happen.

1998 produced another milestone, with the formation of a joint venture partnership with the Joyce family, who are relatives of Andrew's wife Cathy, and 6th generation horticulturalists of Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills, to establish Pike & Joyce Wines.

Whilst Pikes has been producing 'Reserve Wines' from exceptional vintages since the early 1990's, the 2005 vintage saw the first release of ‘The Merle’ Riesling, named in honour of much loved matriarch and co-founder of Pikes Wines, Merle Pike. This wine represents the pinnacle of our estate grown Riesling and is the purest expression of the variety that we can produce in any given vintage.

As it is a true 'reserve' wine, there are some years when the abosulte quality criteria for release of 'The Merle' are simply not met (vintages 2007 and 2011 being such years). 'The Merle' has established a reputation of being consistently one of the finest Rieslings produced in the region, punctuated by it winning the trophy for 'Wine of Show' at the 2014 and 2016 Clare Valley Regional Wine Show and 'Wine of Provenance' at the 2019 Clare Valley Regional Wine Show.

2005 was also the year of the first release of ‘The E.W.P.’ Shiraz, named in honour of much loved patriarch and co-founder of Pikes Wines, Edgar Walter Pike. This wine represents the pinnacle of our estate grown Shiraz, only made in exceptional vintages, and is a fitting testimony to Edgar's commitment and contribution to the Wine Industry in general, and to the establishment of Pikes 'Polish Hill River Estate'.

Following the relaunch of Pikes Beer in 1996, the beer production has been outsourced to various contract brewers around the country. In 2014 a brand new craft brewery was built and commissioned alongside the winery and cellar door sales on the Estate. Construction of the Brewery, 'Pikes Beer Company', begins in July 2014 and beer production in December 2014.

A new era of brewing by Pikes begins!

This is made even more significant with Henry Pikes' great, great, great grandson, Alister Thomas Pike, being involved in all facets of the new brewery establishment from the outset, and is now managing the entire Pikes Beer Company business.

The end of a decade saw a flurry of activity as the new Pikes Tasting Room and Slate Restaurant was conceived and bought to life, officially opening in November 2018. A huge commitment for Pikes, but the resultant complex is a superb endorsement of the Pikes brand and will further enhance the increasingly important beer, wine and food tourism sector for the region.

Slate Restaurant is awarded a Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide in 2020, making them one of 38 hatted restaurants in South Australia.

Pikes is named the Clare Valley's 'Cellar Door with Best Food' in the 2020 Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine's 'Australia's Best Cellar Door Awards'.