Guide to the Clare Valley

A culinary odyssey through four of South Australia’s wine regions, the Epicurean Way road trip takes in the cellar doors and restaurants of McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley before heading to Clare Valley.

A cycling track following a 19th-century railway corridor, the Riesling Trail runs for 33 kilometres (21 miles) between the towns of Clare and Auburn. It’s a mostly flat ride past more than a dozen cellar doors, with three challenging side trails.

With more than 35 cellar doors within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of each other, you could spend days sampling the region’s signature rieslings, as well as pinot grigio and chardonnay, and red varietals such as shiraz, cabernet and malbec.

A working merino sheep farm since 1841, Bungaree Station offers memorable stays in heritage-listed sandstone cottages such as the old gatekeeper’s rooms and a former council chambers and schoolhouse, as well as the chance to feed farm animals.

The first winery in the Clare Valley, Sevenhill Cellars’ vineyards were planted by Jesuit priests in 1851. Taste its table and fortified wines at the picturesque cellar door before following a walking trail through the estate’s old-vine plantings.

Red Banks Conservation Park, around a 50-minute drive from the town of Clare, was once home to giant marsupials called diprotodons. Take the two-hour Landscapes of Change interpretive trail to spot their descendants, western grey and red kangaroos.

In May each year, Clare Valley Gourmet Week brings together the region’s wineries, breweries, restaurants and food producers as well as local artists and musicians for an indulgent festival of the senses that celebrates the end of vintage.

Pack your camera for the 30-minute drive west of Clare to Lake Bumbunga. This saltwater lake near the town of Lochiel changes colour throughout the year, from a dramatic bright pink to white or blue, as the salinity of the water fluctuates.

Watervale Hotel, in the town of Watervale, runs a daily Six Senses tour of its biodynamic and organic farm followed by a six-course seasonal degustation dinner at its acclaimed restaurant (with optional wine pairings and tutored tastings).

The sandstone outcrops, natural waterholes and steep ridges of Spring Gully Conservation Park, in the heart of the Clare Valley, are teeming with native wildlife. Look for echidnas, kangaroos, kookaburras and parrots along the bushwalking tracks.

A former boarding school dating back to 1857, the handsome Stanley Grammar Country House is now a five-room luxury bed-and-breakfast that welcomes couples to relax in front of a log fire and gaze out at the surrounding rows of vines.

After exploring nearby Red Banks Conservation Park, follow the Burra Heritage Trail of 46 historic sites from Burra’s past as a major copper mining hub, including underground brewery cellars and miners’ homes dug into a riverbank.