Clare Valley Information

Clare Valley

THIS may sound disloyal, and perhaps it is, but South Australia's Clare Valley is my favourite Australian wine region.
The view from Spring Gully Conservation Park on the Riesling Trail in South Australia's Clare Valley Noodle north from Adelaide for rather less than two hours, passing through Gawler and Auburn, and you're there.
The charm and modesty of the place will leave you in no doubt that you have arrived – quaint villages, natural stone buildings of modest proportions and a delightful lack of glitz, glamour or even undue impatience.
Relieved, of course, by a lumpy terrain and a couple of eye-catching edifices which, if you stop to inquire, you will discover have interesting stories to tell.
Part of the appeal of the Clare, I suspect, is that it is so manageable – just a thin, north-south valley that the eye can take in from several elevated vantage points.
With, of course, several important "tributary" regions, like the magnificently productive Polish Hill area, for one.
And if the place is visually manageable, then the wines are also easy to understand. And, especially if you happen to share my enthusiasm for incomparable rieslings, just as easy to drink.
Now whether you have visited the Clare or not, I suggest you mark mid-May of next year with a big, bold cross.
That's when the Clare Gourmet Weekend unfolds – this year, it was May 14, 15 and 16 and it will be thereabouts next year, too.

OF ALL Australian food and wine festivals, this is the one least likely to move very far. It's our oldest event of its kind, even though it dates back only to 1985 – a baby by European standards. But for the weekend in question, the Clare pours everything into making up for lost time, and showing the world that just about anything that any other wine region can do, the Clare can do better. Or at least as well. In an approach upon which the Yarra Valley's Grape Grazing festivities, among others, was based, many of the Clare wineries team with a local restaurant, or a footloose chef, to offer food to match their wine: celebrants drop by, either under their own steam or if they are wise, by chartered coach or Clare Gourmet Shuttle, to sample both. It might be seared scallops or a platter of oysters with riesling at one place, a duck pie with shiraz at another, or a lemon tart with a tumbler of unforgettable sticky elsewhere. It's all very demanding stuff. And for those serious about their wine investigations – especially those who include the purchase of, say, a case or two of Polish Hill or Watervale rieslings and a dozen Jim Barry shiraz in their annual acquisitions – this event offers a unique opportunity to assess unreleased wines and to make some early and perhaps profitable decisions. The riesling tasting in particular is entrancing. Every riesling maker from the region – ranging from the celebrated Grosset, Mount Horrocks, Mitchell, Pauletts and Pikes through dozens more established and up-and-coming labels – puts their latest wine up for tasting. And because of the time of the year, this can mean you are tasting shapely little wines from one place, cloudy samples from another, and liquid that is little more than grape juice from another. The indicators are all in there, however, and if you need to know more than your palate can tell you, the winemakers are also on hand and available for quizzing. IT'S a brilliant event and one that seems to have overcome all the usual political issues that can divide and entangle wine regions. They have all agreed to it and they simply get on with it. There is more to the Clare than riesling. Do not ignore the shiraz, which can be outstanding. The Clare even has its own "Grange" in the form of the magnificent Jim Barry The Armagh. And there is more to the Clare Gourmet Weekend, and every other weekend in this place, than wine. There are some glorious B&Bs, the most justifiably famous of which is Thorn Park Country House – comfortable, cosy and with food and a level of service that you will not quickly forget – near the famous Sevenhill Cellars, which produce much of our sacramental wines and which must be visited. There is historic Martindale Hall – well worth a visit, and even a place in which you can stay – which should look familiar to film buffs. It was the school in Picnic at Hanging Rock. And there are great little places in which to eat, among them, Skillogalee Restaurant, also at Sevenhill, and two gems in Auburn – the Rising Sun Hotel and the charming Tatehams, which is also a B&B. For the seriously energetic and those who manage their indulgences well, the Riesling Trail – a 25km disused former railway line which has been turned into a very manageable bike and walking track – is worth sampling. Even if the ride home, after a day of serious tasting, can be more than a little hazardous. But most of all, there are wineries to be visited, wines to be tasted and one of Australia's most exquisite wine regions to be experienced, embraced and celebrated. Bob Hart was a guest of SATC.
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MUST KNOW
1 The Clare Valley is about two hours' drive due north of Adelaide and regarded by many as the state's second-most important wine-growing region, after the Barossa. The main towns are Auburn, Watervale and the heritage-listed Mintaro. Clare is the regional capital (population 2600).
2 For information visit the Clare Valley Visitor Information Centre, Main North Rd, Clare. Ph: 1800 242 131 or www.clarevalley.com.au
3 Apart from the Gourmet Weekend in May, any time in autumn and spring is pleasant in the Clare Valley.

Herald Sun

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