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Clare Valley Wine RegionThe Clare Valley Wine Region in South Australia is located about just over a hundred kilometres north of Adelaide. It stretches from Auburn in the south through the villages of Leasingham, Penwortham and Watervale and on to the township of Clare. You can share your insider knowledge about the Clare Valley via the link below.Share Your Clare Valley Secrets, or see what other readers are saying. See an interactive map of the Clare Valley region. The history of this region is nearly as long as that of the nearby Barossa Region. The first vineyard, at Sevenhill, was planted by Jesuits in the 1840's and is still in production. The Clare valley region is really a series of valleys and uplands with considerable variation in topography and microclimate. The region produces much better cool climate wines than its location and raw climatic data suggest. In his book Viticulture and Environment John Gladstones devotes considerable space to exploring the reasons why the various microclimates around Clare are much better for the production of table wines than for fortified styles. The Clare Valley wine region is most famous for its crisp Rieslings and is now recognised, both in Australia and internationally as the premium region for dry wines from that variety. Shiraz is used to make impressive dry red wines here as well. As in many South Australian wine regions Grenache is used as a blending component of red wines and occasionally as a straight varietal. Over recent years, Sangiovese and Tempranillo have been introduced with very promising results. Mt Surmon received a gold medal for their 2003 Nebbiolo in the 2004 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. Some of the wineries in the Clare Valley wine region who are using alternative varieties are:
Tell us about the Clare ValleyEveryone who has been to the Clare Valley has some tips and tales to tell. Here's your chance to let us in on your secrets.
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