Pikes Luccio Fiano 2025 Clare Valley

Winemaking Notes
The Pikes Luccio Fiano 2025 is sourced from the estate's own Polish Hill River vineyard and a carefully selected Southern Watervale vineyard, reflecting Pikes' strong belief in Fiano's future in the Clare Valley due to the variety's remarkable resilience across extreme vintage conditions. This 14th release of Luccio Fiano demonstrates the Pike family's continued commitment to this fast-growing varietal since the winery's establishment in 1984. The fruit was handled with Pikes' characteristic hands-off winemaking style, allowing the unique terroir of Polish Hill River—with its tough acidic soils over 650-million-year-old ancient Kadlunga Slate—to express itself fully. The winemaking approach prioritised preserving the variety's bright, expressive aromatics and pure drinkability, whilst careful vineyard management and judicious irrigation ensured the fruit achieved full ripeness despite challenging conditions. The resulting wine displays excellent concentration with a medium-bodied, lavish mouthfeel balanced by a crisp acid line (pH 3.06, TA 7.1 g/L), moderate alcohol (12% alc/vol) and subtle residual sweetness (2.2 g/L) that enhances the wine's approachable, elegant character—hallmarks of the Pike family's viticultural experience and unique site.

Vintage Conditions
The 2025 vintage in the Clare Valley proved to be one of the most challenging on record, marking the second driest year in the region's history. Following a wet July, the season turned dry with a warm spring and summer that tested the resilience of the vineyards. On 17 September, frost struck the Polish Hill vineyard just after budburst, presenting an additional challenge early in the growing season. Fortunately, the early timing of the frost event allowed the vines to respond with healthy shoot growth, albeit with a smaller canopy than usual. The combination of lower yields resulting from the frost and the dry conditions, coupled with careful irrigation management, ultimately led to full ripeness and excellent fruit concentration. Despite the extreme conditions, the fruit displayed outstanding quality characteristics, with red varieties showing deep colour and intensity. For Fiano, the challenging vintage proved the variety's remarkable adaptability and resilience in Clare Valley's unique terroir, delivering fruit with vibrant aromatics, concentrated stonefruit flavours and the crisp natural acidity that defines this exceptional release.