SA’s Clare Valley is a charming wine country home away from home
Come for the wine cellars and long lunches (with native ingredients)... stay for the stargazing and the countryside charm.
It’s a buzzing Saturday evening in spring when we arrive at Sevenhill Hotel. Out the back of this classic country pub, ABBA tunes ring out from a beer garden where a wedding is in full swing; inside, the bar teems with locals. Publican Paul mans the taps with a grin for all, and from down the road comes the sound of fireworks and carnival rides at the Clare Show, the Valley’s annual event.
It’s all noise and action, but we are tucked away, 10 of us elbow to elbow, at a table in the Sevenhill Hotel’s cosy wine cellar. We’re surrounded by the wine bottles of local labels, and from the kitchen comes hearty pub grub (try the pan-fried kangaroo loin with saltbush and macadamia). It feels like a family get-together. Only, while there is family around the dinner table – the Paulett family, to be specific – I’m a guest, rounding out a Clare Valley long weekend in the most perfect fashion: with country hospitality, good food, good wine and plenty of cheer.
Located 140km north of Adelaide, Clare and its surrounding towns are part of a charming region defined by close community and lives lived near the vines. It’s a place where you can stop off for a tasting at one cellar door and, three cellar doors later, find yourself in a 200-year-old stone cottage experiencing another local winemaker’s renovation-in-progress.
Here, the land is so tightly kept that change is rare or happens slowly. Matt Paulett, the second-generation winemaker who, with his wife Ali, runs Paulett Wines, says his parents Neil and Alison experienced this when they moved to the Valley 40 years ago.
“Dad worked at Rosemount Penfolds in the Hunter Valley where they used Clare grapes to give their blends more vibrancy,” he says. “When they moved here, the land was so tightly held there wasn’t any property for sale. After a year of knocking on doors and nagging, we were the 13th winery in the area.”
That was just prior to 1983, the year of Paulett’s first vintage. Today, the Clare has more than 45 wineries. Yet it still confidently maintains a more homely feel than larger-scale wine havens like the Barossa or the Hunter.
Of the familial touch that makes Clare special, managing director Ali, who married into the Paulett name, laughs: “Matt’s mum was on the cellar door for 21 years before we could convince her to retire.”
It doesn’t mean the region is any less decorated than others. As we enter the cellar door at Pauletts, it’s hard to miss the raft of accolades the team has received. Gold awards for shiraz, cabernets, and perhaps the most prized drop: riesling.
The region has a riesling trail – for both avid cyclists and wine drinkers – built over the old train track, which was lost to the Ash Wednesday fires. Riesling is the star of the Valley, with many Clare Valley winemakers focusing on small batch, low-yield winemaking.
“When you’re trying to get big yields, the vines are pumped with water and nutrients to get that much fruit,” says Ali. “We get less fruit but what we end up with has much more intensity and flavour. It means there’s less intervention on our part.”
The Paulett family has been at the top end of pioneering these regenerative practices. It’s an exercise in sustainability they’ve been working towards for decades, long before it was a cool buzzword in inner-city wine bars.
At Pauletts, a long lunch at the onsite Bush deVine restaurant – perched above the Polish Hill River, overlooking an expanse of lush vines – offers a variety of menus with paired wines from the property. Head chef Thomas Erkelenz weaves native ingredients, either foraged or sourced from the restaurant’s garden, into dishes such as lamb terrine with spring peas, native thyme and rivermint, and Greenslades chicken with nduja, peppers, saltbush and king prawn. Lunch is decidedly leisurely: try menus that include three shared plates for $60, five shared plates for $90 or a $120 long-lunch degustation. The view, the wine, the food and the atmosphere linger as long as the afternoon, a delicious combination that brings together everything brilliant about this corner of the nation.
In a state filled with glorious wine regions, Clare still manages to feel special; a treasure trove of unspoiled goodness. I’d like to keep it to myself but it would be selfish not to share.
Checklist
Getting there: Clare town centre is about a two-hour drive from Adelaide. The Clare Valley is a picturesque 40km corridor with notable townsincluding Auburn, Sevenhill, Watervale, Mintaro and Polish Hill River. The region is best accessed by car.
Stay: See the countryside as it was meant to be seen by glamping or staying in one of the well-appointed cabins at Bukirk. Stargaze as you fall asleep and wake up to the animals in the morning. Rates start from $250 a night. bukirk.com.au
Do: Come for the main event: the cellar doors. Stay for the natural sights like the cyclable Riesling Trail or the Wine and WildernessWalk, a 100km hiking and cycling track with stops at wineries along the way.
Eat, drink and taste: Paulett Wines’ onsite restaurant Bush deVine, with views overlooking the delightful Polish Hill River, is a treat. Elsewhere, try Matriarch & Rogue, where winemaker Marnie Roberts produces mostly European varieties including a montepulcianoand a tempranillo.
At the microwinery Gertie Wines, winemaker Ben Marx specialises in cabernet francs. In Auburn, gateway to the region, you wouldn’t know Kerri Thompson of Wines by KT (winesbykt.com) is makingone of the Valley’s most sought-after rieslings until you’ve tried it – or seen the praise-packed press clippings (she counts Jamie Oliver as a fan) taped to the back of the bathroom door. (It’s humour like this that makes the region so endearing.) Try, too, Clare institutions: the Watervale Hotel and Uppside Restaurant.
