CLARE VALLEY REGION: in the mid north of South Australia

With its vineyards and villages and "small-is-beautiful" wineries mingling with bush capped ridges, the Clare Valley is an album full of postcard views.

A picturesque and prospering township like Clare itself was on the cards from the moment the explorer Edward John Eyre declared in 1839 that this was "by far the best land" he'd seen except for the Mt Barker district. European settlement of this good possum-hunting country of the Ngadjuri people began a few kilometres south.

A stone obelisk on the main road at Penwortham tells the story of a twenty-one-year-old adventurer, John Horrocks, who set up his farm in the hollow in 1840. His pastoral and exploring pursuits earned him the title "The King of the North", but he was dead and buried in the rustic bush churchyard of St John's church in just six years. On an expedition north he was preparing to shoot a bird when his camel lurched. The gun blast shot off fingers and part of his face. He was brought back to Penwortham and died three days later.

Irishman Edward Gleeson founded Clare. He laid out the village, first called Inchiquin after his homestead or the Twins - describing two great gum trees by the creek. By the 1850's, the chaff mill in the main street was in place and so was the name Clare, referring to "Paddy" Gleeson's patch of Ireland. By the time the old town hall went up he dominated council affairs, and so he became known as "The King of Clare".

By far the best overview of the district's centre is gained from Billygoat Hill (a local told a visiting journalist that was its name - he wrote it down and it stuck). From the rise just behind the town centre, it is clearly a solid town of about three thousand people. It grew as a fruit and vegetable producer for the Monster Mine of Burra to the north east, and from its role as "the garden of the north", it developed into the commercial centre for the region.

It is a big tourist town too, and a lot of visitors enjoy the Historic Walk that takes them past the first substantial building in town. The first St Michael's was built in 1849, only the third Catholic church in the colony. Clare's first school opened within. Up the road, just a year later, the constabulary moved into the original police station and courthouse. It was, however, too far from the action - the pubs in the main street - and so it became a casualty hospital instead. The National Trust Museum is now in residence. The pastoral boom years of the 1870's and 1880's produced handsome buildings all over the state, and Clare has its fair share. Three of the hotels are still open on the long main road. A Mr Kenny was granted the first license in 1848, at what is now the classic two storey Taminga Hotel and within a year he recognized the tourism potential here when he encouraged newlyweds to leave "dusty Adelaide". As his advertisement read, they should come to Clare "to appreciate the sweets of their honeymoon in all its pleasing delights". The many B&Bs and tourist accommodation operators would suggest there's even more reason to come today.

Clare and premium wines are, of course, synonymous…but beer? The tall Enterprise Brewery at the top of the town didn't just make its famous Racehorse beer for the main street drinkers. It owned hotels in a dozen towns in the region. Shorter hotel hours and a shonky brewer did it in big 1917 and it turned out soft drinks instead. (Look out for the old racehorse-and-jockey weather vane that signals its heyday). Then a brilliant young winemaker moved in in 1976, and Tim Knappstein is still helping preserve the Clare Valley's well-deserved reputation.

It all starts with excellent local fruit, borne on vines that grow up several small valleys - all 1000ft or 300m or higher above sea level. That's good for growing premium Riesling for instance…cold, wet winters and hot summers. Since the Australian red and white table wine boom of the 1960's onwards, more than thirty small specialist wineries have sprung up, and a very attractive bunch of cellar doors they are.

It is no wonder the Clare valley lures a quarter of a million visitors or more each year. Right in Clare itself, many call in on one of the original few, because it is still bringing home the show medals. One part of the old Stanley Wine Company - now Leasingham Wines - started out as a fruit preserving company 120 years ago. One of the founders was a Knappstein - Tim's family - and about when cellar door (the creeper-covered old stillhouse) was built, he sent off his first export cases of wine to London. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Clare was experiencing its first vine planting fever. It's on again now.

As if ridge top views, rolling vineyards, sheep paddocks and superb wines aren't enough, the winemakers of the Clare Valley have organised a walking and riding track for us that threads all its pearls onto one strand. And they've named it after the variety for which they are most famous…and so it's the Riesling Trail.

It was born of adversity. The region lost its last hold on the northbound railway line when the Ash Wednesday 1983 bushfires burned out sleepers and track equipment. The cute Thomas-the Tank-Engine style bridge over Quarry Road at the Clare end is pretty new, then but the old rail cuttings and embankments flatten out the geography, creating an easy-going twenty seven kilometre run through this classic wine region from Clare to Auburn.

As I've discovered before, however, the temptations on both sides are likely to derail any but the keenest straight-line cyclist. The cradle of Clare Valley wine-making calls as the path glides past its old vines, dam and beautiful heritage cemetery. Just over the ridge is the historic Jesuit seminary with its noble St Aloysius Church, rustic shrines and 1851 winery. You will find entirely new angles on this postcard perfect wine country as you walk or ride - and there are a host of places to stay close to the line.

At the other end of the Riesling Trail, the marvelously crafted bluestone buildings of Auburn await. Originally on the old bullockies' track from the Burra copper mines to Pt Wakefield it's now home to a couple of fine wineries, including Mt Horrocks with its cellar door in the Auburn railway station. It signals the end of our journey through the charms of the Clare Valley.

Great Clare Valley Wineries
Eldredge Cafe & Vineyard
Jeanneret Winery - at Sevenhill in the Clare Valley
Leasingham Winery
Mitchell Wines - At Sevenhill in the Clare Valley
Neagles Rock Wines - Cellar Door and Restaurant - Clare Valley
Phoenix Estate Wines - Clare Valley
Pikes Wines at Polish Hill River Estate - Sevenhill, Clare Valley
Remarkable View Wines
Sevenhill Cellars
Skillogalee Winery

Contacts:
The Clare Valley Visitors Information Centre
Town Hall
229 Main North Rd
PO Box 439
CLARE SA 5453
Ph: (08) 8842 2131
www.clarevalley.com.au
Email: getcloser@clarevalley.com.au

The South Australian Travel Centre Ph: 1300 366 770

Thanks to:
Clare Regional History Group c/o Clare Valley Visitors Information Centre

"Clare - A District History" by Robert J Noye