Clare Valley

On Sunday the 17^th we moved on to the Clare Valley, staying in Clare itself in the van park there. We pulled in to the racecourse there for a cheaper camp but there was not a soul there and it was hard to see where the access was or where the proprietor would want us to camp so we went back to the van park.

After setting up we went to the info centre and went on to the two most original wineries in the valley. The first was the Seven Hills Cellars which is owned by the Jesuit brotherhood and has been from the beginning. They were the very first winery in the valley. They were a monastery of soughts as well and today is a retreat for the Jesuits as well as continuing in the wine making. Thank God for those Jesuits, and their wine. They built an impressive church there and had lovely grounds and buildings.

Next was Annie’s Lane. I have always loved their reds and was very happy to go there. Again it was interesting learning about the history there. My guess was that Annie was a daughter of the winemaker but no, Annie was a woman who was well known in the area and went riding her bike up the lane that the winery is on and her bike broke down one day. That’s it.

Their reds that don’t go into the bottle shops were the best. They were referred to as the ‘Locals’. Some bottle shops do have them and I will always be looking for them. However, their 2013 Cab Merlot which is in the shops and is a very nice drop was being sold for $12.50 a bottle if you buy six as they were moving them on to bring in a new vintage so I bought six as that was a great deal.

Saw a bit more history of an early explorer.

We were glad that it worked out the way it did as far as having to go back to the van park in town as we met a lovely couple who were our neighbours and we stayed chatting with them till about 11pm that night. We would have had no neighbours at the racecourse.

Next day we were up earlyish to get our Landcruiser into the Toyota Dealer for its 40,000km service. So far 28,700km had been clocked up on this second big trip. We got dropped into town and had great coffee and a walk around the town. There is so much history been retained in SA and Clare is no exception.

In town there is the Mr Mick Winery which is about the third oldest winery in the valley. Quite good reds and we stayed there for lunch at their Tapas Restaurant. The meal was awesome and we had the advantage of having sampled their wine which enabled us to choose the wines we wanted to drink over lunch. A very memorable visit.

We were picked up from Mr Micks after lunch to retrieve the Landcruiser. Went to a lookout near town and then back to the van for a swim in the pool and relax for the evening.