WINEMAKING

Our aim at Pikes is to produce wines with character and personality which reflect the variety, the site, the vintage conditions and the passion which we invest into our vineyards and winemaking.

We closely monitor our wines during their formative stage and intervene as little as possible during the vinification process, thereby protecting the integrity of the fruit characters delivered to us by the vineyard in any given season.

A combination of both modern and traditional winemaking techniques are used to produce wines of finesse and style which celebrate the fruit grown on our Polish Hill River Estate.

Pure yeast cultures are used to inoculate our delicate white varieties, and most of our reds. Some wild yeast ferments are encouraged for Shiraz and Sangiovese to build complexity. Our Grenache, Sangiovese and Mourvedre may stay on skins for up to 3 weeks after fermentation to extract for colour, flavour and tannin.

Maturation of red wine and some of our white wines takes place in high quality French oak barrels in temperature controlled purpose built barrel rooms, (sourced from several different regions and producers in France) to increase our wine’s complexity, structure and balance. Once maturation is complete, and after gentle fining and filtration where necessary, our finished wines are bottled.