Discover history at Skillogalee Winery in the Clare Valley, South Australia

ANGELA Saurine finds the Clare Valley wine region is a pleasant place to while away a weekend.

Enjoy lunch under an olive tree at Skillogalee in the Clare Valley. Picture: Supplied

In the early 1840s, pioneer and explorer John Horrocks was leading an expedition to the Flinders Ranges when he ran short of provisions and decided to make a skillogalee — a thin porridge made from grass seeds and water that was commonly fed to prisoners in Ireland at the time.

To mark the expedition’s survival, he named a creek after the porridge and in the 1960s Spencer George named his Clare Valley winery after the creek on his property.

Fortunately, the food has improved greatly since those early days. Chicken liver parfait, lemongrass and ginger duck-leg curry and slow-cooked pork loin are on the menu at Skillogalee Winery Restaurant, washed down with riesling, rose, shiraz, cabernet and chardonnay. The restaurant is housed in a colonial-style stone cottage built in 1851 by Cornish miner John Trestrail — ironically a religious man who did not approve of drinking.

Diners sit at wooden tables on the veranda, and under an olive tree overlooking the vines and eucalypt trees. Herbs grow in wine barrels nearby.

Skillogalee also offers accommodation just a few hundred metres from the cellar door and restaurant, so it’s not far to roll home after a long lunch.

There are three accommodation options — two cottages and the luxurious Skillogalee House. Sleeping six people in three bedrooms, it has wooden floorboards, a fireplace and a lovely shaded outdoor area at the back.

The best way to explore the region is on a self-guided cycling tour. Pick up bikes at the nearby Kilikanoon Winery and head off on the riesling trail. The Skilly loop takes in the Church of Saint Mark and adjoining cemetery, which has the graves of many early settlers, including Horrocks.

Ride along the former train track and pass sheep and cattle farms and the old Sevenhill Railway Station before arriving at Sevenhill Cellars.

Established by the Society of Jesuits in 1851 to produce altar wine, the winery is the oldest in the valley and the only remaining Jesuit-owned winery in Australia.

After a wine tasting you can wander the cellar, excavated by shovel and pick, admire the architecture and stained glass windows at St Aloysius’ Church and go inside the crypt, the final resting place for 42 Jesuits, including Brother George Sadler, who was killed by a stone while blasting in the quarry for material to build the church.

Back at Kilikanoon, riders can finish their tour with a tasting of the Asset Collection, six premium reserve wines including riesling, shiraz and cabernet.

The writer was a guest of Skillogalee and Kilikanoon.

For more information see skillogalee.com.au and clarevalley.com.au