I was reminded that National Pie Week takes place on March 7 while walking through the Oxford Covered Market. Here among the cafés, butchers and greengrocers you will discover the Pieminister pie shop.

It is easily identified by the buzz of customers it attracts at all times of the day, there to enjoy a meal of a hot pie, mash and peas, or to purchase award- winning pies to take away.

Pieminister was the brainchild of Jonathan Simon, who discovered the joy of eating a perfect pie while visiting Australia.

Jonathan admits that his mother and grandmother cooked great pies, but the pie he bought from Harry-the-Wheels’ van in a Sydney back street tasted like nothing he had eaten before.

“It was a steak pie with mushrooms, and tasted brilliant. I knew there and then than an idea was born.”

Within a year, Jonathan had set up his first pie shop with his brother-in-law and chef Tristan Hogg. At first, they were producing the pies in a domestic kitchen behind a small shop in Bristol. The year was 2003 and their range of pies during those early days limited. But right from the start they honoured their pledge to use free-range British meat and eggs and put animal welfare at the top of their list.

They also pride themselves on not using hydrogenated fats, or any artificial colourings or flavourings.

The ingredients they source are local to their central kitchen, which sadly means they are not local to Oxfordshire, but to the Bristol area 70 miles away.

Now they offer ten different pies, but they are continually adding to their range. Indeed, they are planning to produce a pie that will celebrate the forthcoming royal wedding. Kate and Wills Pie will be made from British beef, wine, bacon, pearl onions, mushrooms and a dash of brandy, and be on sale from March 1 until the beginning of May.

A new addition to their expanding sweet pie range, made with poached pears, rum and chocolate, named The Royal Pear, will be on sale during that period too.

During his stay in Australia, Jonathan drank Foster’s lager when he ate a meat pie, and cider when he and Tristan began their venture. Now eight years on, he has come to realise that their pies go very well with wine, too, and that each pie filling calls for a different wine style.

Take his royal wedding pie, for instance. The rich savoury flavours of this commemorative pie cry out for a wine such as the ruby red Pinot Noir Wild Ferment 2009, which comes from Chile’s Errazuriz vineyard and is made from natural yeasts that yield great depth and complexity.

Pieminister’s chicken of aragon pie is made from British chicken, bacon, roast garlic, vermouth and fresh tarragon and, therefore, calls for a powerful sauvignon blanc that simply bursts with the myriad of flavours found in Villa Maria from New Zealand. The refreshing crisp clean finish of this powerful wine makes it a perfect accompaniment for this pie. It also goes very well with Pieminister’s vegetarian pie, named Heidi Pie, which contains goat’s cheese, sweet potato, spinach, red onion and roasted garlic.

Henny Penny pie, created from free-range chicken, porcini mushrooms and a delicious creamy sauce, calls for a white wine from New Zealand, too. The well-balanced, silver award-winning Vidal Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2009, which combines aromas of citrus and stone fruit with subtle oak, goes particularly well this tasty pie.

A lively gutsy red wine aged in oak is the most obvious wine match for the matador pie which contains British beef, chorizo, olives, tomatoes, sherry and butter beans. Cune Crianza 2007 Rioja is the perfect choice as it boasts some glorious red berry aromas.

There is even a wine match for Pieminister’s Shamrock pie filled with tender beef steak that has been cooked in that famous Irish stout to produce a rich gravy. Yes, I realise this pie cries out to be enjoyed with a glass (or two) of Guinness — that’s obvious — but it also marries well with the big flavours of an Australian red such as Benchmark Shiraz 2009 which is deep purple in colour and typical of those great fruit-driven wines that come from down under.

Jonathan laughs at the fact his pies go so well with wine, particularly Australian wine, because that original Aussie pie which inspired his Pieminister business, was washed down with Foster’s Lager.

I plan to celebrate National Pie Week by holding a pie-tasting lunch for friends. I’ll cook the pies (though certainly not quite as many different types as Pieminister offers) and they will bring a range of drinks including big gutsy Australian wines and a few local beers such as Wychwood’s Hobgoblin. As I aim to come up with some very creative pies to complement their choice of drinks, it should be great fun.