Clare Gourmet Weekend: In the Clare Valley region of South Australia

Being only a little over an hour from Adelaide, Clare Valley is the perfect place to unwind. It's actually made up of 5 valleys and takes in the town of Clare and six smaller villages including Auburn and Mintarto. There are more than 30 cellar doors and with so many picture postcard settings it's not hard to see why it attracts nearly a quarter of a million visitors every year.

One of the best times to visit is during the annual Gourmet Weekend, which kicks off on Friday the 16th of May. Twenty-four wineries will team up with local and Adelaide restaurants to offer food and wine combinations for every taste.

One of them will be Eldredge Vineyard Restaurant. A while back we dropped in on Winemaker Leigh Eldredge, who has transformed an old 1920s dairy farm into a winery delight.

“There was a little dairy here and we bought it in 1993 and renovated it. No one had been living here for about fifteen years and the cows and sheep had been through it.”

Now it's the locals and visitors who graze on the balcony enjoying Chef Phill Scalres' creations like lamb and dam - lamb from the saltbush plains near Burra, and yabbies from the vineyard dam.

The Eldredge Vineyard Restaurant is on Spring Gully Road.

The Clare Gourmet Weekend runs over the 17th and 18th of May and culminates with Gourmet Sunday. Contact 8843 0222 for details.