Clare Valley
Australia's Riesling Capital
On the lands of the Ngadjuri people.
schedule 1 min read / Updated Apr 2026
A narrow 30 kilometre wine valley in the mid-north of South Australia that produces some of the best rieslings on earth. Clare has the unusual combination of warm days and cold nights, which is why it makes bone-dry, steely rieslings that age for decades.
Clare Valley was planted to vines in 1851, making it one of the oldest wine regions in Australia. It sits on Ngadjuri country on the western slopes of the Southern Flinders Ranges at elevations of 400 to 500 metres. The combination of warm summer days and cold nights is why it ripens riesling so reliably and why Clare rieslings have the longest cellaring potential of any in the country.
The biggest producers are Jim Barry (home of the iconic Armagh Shiraz and the Watervale riesling), Pikes, Sevenhill Cellars (the oldest winery in the Clare, established by Jesuit missionaries in 1851 and still operating), Kilikanoon, and Taylors. Most of them are on the Riesling Trail, a 35 kilometre flat sealed rail-trail through the valley that is one of the best cycling wine tours in Australia.
The Sevenhill Jesuit winery is still part of a working monastery and the cellar door is inside the original 1860s stone crypt. The small town of Mintaro, 10 minutes south, is a perfectly preserved 1850s stone village and is a National Trust-listed state heritage area.
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- Bentley’s Hotel, Clare 20261123-110730.jpg · RegionVisitor90 · CC0
- Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.jpg · Taryn · CC BY-SA 2.0
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