Day 44- Friday 10 February - Clare Valley Wines

DAY 44

FRIDAY

10 February 2017 – Wildcats 101 v Sydney 74 - A well needed win during their last home game

Clare Valley Wine tour

On, off, on went the air con during the night. It stayed pretty warm during the night, but was bearable with it on. We woke surprisingly refreshed and early, 7am, time to continue reading our books before finally surfacing for real.

Today was going to be all about wine.

The tourist info building is attached to the Clare Discovery Park here, so that was our first port of call, though they didn’t tell us much more than we already knew, only that it was going to be hot again.

We walked back to the van, gathered our necessary items and drove into Clare, so we could post a card and find a battery before doing a quick walk of the centre, buying muesli bars at Woolies and then it was off to our first winery/brewery – Knappstein.

We visited this winery when we were here in 2003 and were happy to make a return, as they had branched out into beer. The cellar door worker wasn’t particularly helpful or friendly and as such I didn’t try very much and wasn’t going to be buying, however Paul did come away with a four pack of their beer.

On to stop two, Sevenhills Winery. This establishment is the oldest in the valley, originally started by the Jesuit monks to brew the wines for church services. Here the cellar staff were far more forthcoming and enjoyed a chat, along with telling us about the wines. A far more pleasurable experience and as such we came away with a couple of bottles.

We enjoyed the chance to wander around the cellar door, which included a walk down stairs into the cellar hewn from the rock. It was only 19 down here, dark, and musty smelling, with lots of wine barrels. It was really interesting.

We were able to make our way out to the grounds from the cellar and have a wander of the large lawn areas, before going into the church, where Paul lit a candle for Tina.

The temperature was already up to 39C, so it was on to the next winery, Annie’s Lane, another we had visited in 2003 and again were left disappointed. It is really hard to enjoy wines when the person behind the counter is not particularly personable. Going into these establishments you need to have someone happy to chat and welcoming. As a result, we tried but did not buy. We had a wander around their small museum and art gallery, which Paul thought was a bunch of toss and then we made our way out to the next stop.

Pike’s Brewery and winery was stop number 4. Paul picked up a tasting paddle of 4 brews, happy to chat to one of the brewers about how they went about making their beers and sharing tips and tricks between them. We settled outside where Paul could go through the ritual of tasting each one before going back to finish them. He wasn’t overly impressed, particularly with the Kriek style, but apparently the Pale was a winner.

With no food on offer and feeling peckish, we drove back to Sevenhill Tavern for a lunchtime meal. The place was packed. We picked up the last table for two. Luckily most other guests were well into their meal, so we were able to order and be fed fairly quickly. Phew! I was really feeling it, all the wine and no food was playing havoc. Lunch was delicious, we shared flat head and calamari, a good choice.

Now with full bellies it was time to head back to the van for an afternoon siesta after a cool down in the pool. With the core temp returning to a more normal level we were able to settle into the van with the AC on and just relax for the afternoon. 

Jaden had called to let us know Paul’s shed had been flooded with all the rain that was being thrown around at home. Oh dear! Glad we aren’t there at the moment, the weather is depressing.

By 5 Paul had been overcome by a low and wasn’t feeling the best so he had to take it easy for a bit. I tried to get the TV to work , but still no luck. Hmm. After some time lying down the colour seemed to come back to Paul and we were able to join other park guests at the BBQ for a pizza and wine tasting evening. It was all very civilised, as we tried Jim Barry Wines and ate hot pizzas straight from the pizza ovens, while talking to fellow travelers.

Following our feed, we decided to head back to the pool and cool off again. It was lovely in, until every other man and his dog thought to join us. I was glad we were only there to have a quick splash and then head back to the van.

While it wasn’t cool, it was certainly cooler that before so I was able to sit outside and work on the net, which seemed to respond much better outside than in.

Paul chose the air con to begin with, but joined me a while later, until the bugs started biting and he returned to the protection of the van. I held on as long as I could. It was dark by the time I came in.