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Boutique hotels in Clare Valley

Clare Valley, Australia

Clare Valley Overview

Australia

Countryside
Agriculture meets viticulture
Country life
Cellar-door delights

An hour or so north of South Australia's more famous Barossa Valley, the historic Clare Valley in the Mid North district punches well above its weight in the wine stakes.

Producing just three per cent of Australia’s wine, it rakes in 20 per cent of wine industry awards. Impressive! Riesling is what you’re here for – young, sweet and fragrant. If you’ve been knocking around the nearby Barossa Valley and roll into the Clare Valley, you’ll notice a seismic shift in atmosphere. Gone is the squat, calorific German colonial architecture, replaced by refined stone structures built with boomtown mining money. Gone too are the garish signs and brassy main-street cellar doors, swapped for subtle, boutique marketing and discreet cellars. The Clare Valley (www.clarevalley.com.au) delivers a personable wine experience with aplomb. The countryside is tasty, too: rolling hills, broad skies, chunky eucalypt trees and historic stone villages, most of which were built to service the famous Burra copper mine.

Completely Clare Valley

Touring the Clare Valley you get a sense that before anyone discovered you could grow wine here, the area had an established identity and was a potent place indeed. With the ‘Monster Mine’ in nearby Burra spewing out copper in the 1840s, the Clare towns evolved along the transport route, with impressive stone buildings built in prospering Auburn, Mintaro and Clare. But then in the 1850s someone discovered gold in Victoria and all the miners shipped out – boom went bust. Thankfully the architecture remains – a lavishly optimistic gallery of gorgeous old buildings.

Local knowledge

Taxis
Clare Valley Taxis (+61 (0)4 1984 7900) runs a taxi service between the towns in the valley.

Tipping culture
Like elsewhere in Australia, tipping here isn’t mandatory, but tip 10 per cent in restaurants and cafés if your service came with a smile.

Siesta and Fiesta
Local shops and banks open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday; many shops also open 10am to 4pm on Saturdays. Cafés usually open for breakfast around 8am and close around 4pm. Restaurants generally serve lunch from noon to 2.30pm; dinner from 6pm to 9pm. Most wineries open around 10am and close around 5pm.

Packing tips
Leave room in your luggage for a few bottles of fine Clare Valley Riesling, and bring some bike riding gear too – one of the best ways to experience the Clare Valley is on two wheels.

Recommended reads
The Story of the 'Monster Mine': the Burra Burra mine and its Townships, 1845-1877 by Ian Auhl tells the story of Mid North copper-town Burra and the transport route to the coast via the Clare Valley which founded most of the local villages. Viticulture and Environment by John Gladstones looks at the Clare Valley’s microclimates, explaining why the Riesling here is so good!

Cuisine
On the food front, expect farmer-sized servings (read: huge). Unlike the Barossa Valley further south, the Clare Valley hasn’t gone totally upmarket – any eatery worth its salt will still have a chicken schnitzel and a hefty steak on the menu. The Clare may trail the Barossa in gourmet terms, but anything tastes good with a crisp summer glass of Clare Riesling.

Regional specialities
The Clare Valley is fully focussed on wine (especially Riesling), but if you look around you’ll also be able to find some better-than-good bottles of Shiraz, Sangiovese, Pino Grigio, Viognier and Cab Sav. And with the screw-top revolution nearing 100 per cent acceptance, not even the lack of a corkscrew will stop you pulling over in a sunny paddock, cracking out that whiffy cheese you’ve been saving and spinning the top of a bottle. Most cellar doors have free tastings.

Currency
Australian dollar (AU$).

Time zone
GMT + 9.5.

Dialling codes
Country code: +61; South Australia: 08 (drop the 0 if dialling from outside Australia).

Do go/don't go
Summer in South Australia (December to February) can be a crazed, crowded and sun-burnt prospect, particularly around the Clare Valley which is closer to the dry Outback than the more populated regions. A better idea is to visit during autumn (March to April) when the grapes are being harvested, the days are cooler and the kids are back at school. Or time your visit with the fabulous Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend (www.southaustralia.com) in May, when the whole valley puts its best foot forward.

Don't go home without

At least walking (but preferably cycling) along a section of the Clare-to-Auburn Riesling Trail (www.southaustraliantrails.com.au).