One of the Clare Valley’s premier wine brands, the family–owned Pikes Wines, is about to embark on a project that will turn the base of the 33–year–old wine and beer company into a Mid North destination for food, wine and tourism. Famous for its quality Clare wines and striking fish logo, for more than 30 years Pikes Wines has been one of Clare Valley’s most renowned wineries. Started in 1984 by Andrew Pike and his brother Neil, the winery has evolved over the years to include a range of beers in 1996 (Pikes Beer Company), Pikes & Joyce (for their Adelaide Hills wines), while a brewery for their beer range opened in 2014. The next step: a Pikes visitors’ centre.

A new study has found that Aussie shoppers remain a patriotic bunch with a whopping 89 per cent of respondents agreeing they’d more likely buy an Australian made product. The study by research firm Roy Morgan pitted shoppers views of locally made goods over their cheaper Chinese alternatives. It found 30 per cent of us are likely to buy Chinese made goods based on price, while 48 per cent of respondents were less likely to buy the Chinese variant. Only 3 per cent say they’d be more likely to buy wine if it came from China, while 73 per cent are more likely to buy wine if it’s Australian.

With Shiraz now the dominant wine for our largest export market, China, the dark-skinned variety was celebrated at recent NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) industry events which highlighted the versatility of new Shiraz clones. DPI viticultural development officer, Darren Fahey, said 75 select wine industry members took part in special tasting events in Canberra and the Hunter Valley to explore wine style and the Shiraz clones which are best suited to local wine regions.