Clare

Visiting the wineries

Another wet day though at least we had a more leisurely start, with breakfast served an hour later from 8am – 9am. We had booked lunch for 1pm at the Skillogalee Winery, around 10kms via the Reisling Trail, so we had some time to explore.

Always one to enjoy a fire, we stopped at the Clare Valley Wine, Food and Tourism Centre for our morning coffee. We had a prime position in armchairs in front of the fire, so could dry off a little and take our time. We ran into Julie and Andrew from our first night, and agreed to meet up for dinner.

Next stop was the Sevenhill Cellars, which according to its website:

While the origins of Sevenhill Cellars date back to the mid-nineteenth century, its roots run much deeper and go all the way back to the 16th century when a young Spanish courtier called Inigo, eventually swapped a life of violence for one dedicated to helping others and co-founded the religious order we know today as the Jesuits. He mistakenly thought the Latin translation of his name was Ignatius and hundreds of years later, the more well-known St Ignatius has stuck fast.

It was the first winery built in the Clare Valley and apparently continues to produce altar wine. We had a tasting flight, selecting our preferred wines, and enjoyed them all. So we ordered a second tasting flight to cover most of the remaining wines. These we liked less, with the exception of the port. We ended up ordering a mixed dozen.

Emerging out into the drizzle via the cellars, we continued down the Resiling Trail to our lunch destination. It seemed appropriate to order a Skillogalee Reisling with our lunch. Fortunately we only ordered a glass each as I didn’t like it nearly as much as the other wines we had tasted. We ate lunch on the veranda under a heater and with blankets to put over our knees, so all very cosy. We each had a main course, and I ordered the market fish, Coorong Mullet, which seemed appropriate given that the Coorong region includes Lake Alexandrina and Hindmarsh Island.

One of our breakfast companions had recommended the Jeanneret vineyard, which was only a short distance away, albeit over a steep hill. We took the plunge and headed there for another wine tasting flight. The standout was the Temperance League Shiraz – and even better it was 50% off, so we couldn’t resist ordering a case.

It was still a little too early to return to our tent, so we detoured back to the Information centre for a hot chocolate by the fire. We arrived back in time for a shower and shared a dinner table with Julie and Andrew, and their almost neighbours, Alison and Brian.