My first wine tasting in Clare

by karin
(Angle Vale)

The mega breakfast at the Caltex!!

I've been living in Australia for almost 10 years and close to the Barossa on top of it and have not ever managed to do a wine tasting?!!...
So when a couple of friends kindly offered to join them on their wine tasting tour of the Clare Valley I couldn't possibly resist...

They booked a spa room for us at the Bentley Motel in Clare where they were staying as well.The room was a bit pricey for what it was really but the good company made up for it!

We got there on Saturday afternoon and hit off the closeby pub straight away as it was too late to start the wineries.

After that we had a delicious meal at the Thai restaurant at the end of the main street along with a bottle of local shiraz wine from the Claymore winery which was really nice.

We returned to the Bentley's pub to play pool for a while until the Dj started playing some music and we joined in with the local crowd for a bit of a boogie!Then it was time to get some well needed rest for our full on day in the morning...

We all had a nice lay-in then headed off to Auburn to get breakfast at Cygnets (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone as it's overpriced, the breakfasts were overcooked and the service wasn't even that good!!...)then had a look at the little farmer's market there and started our round of wineries!

First stop Annie's Lane...then onto Mintaro...then Reilly's which is located in the gorgeous old stoned cottages hamlet of Mintaro, where they're also serving food that looked delicious!
The boys stayed in the local pub for a catch up on the Footy score while we were tasting away!

We moved on to Paulett's after that, then the lovely Jeanneret winery where the very picturesque host Richard entertained us all along with the clients that kept coming in...lovely cosy little cottage there too!
We briefly stopped at Mitchell's to grab an excellent bottle of Mc Nicol and a Pepertree Jack Shiraz for my friend as well...with more tasting of course!

Then we needed to get some food in our system to sponge up all the alcohol so we stopped at the excellent Penna Lane winery where they serve good hearty comfort food and gorgeous platters to share (with fabulous homemade bread), along with a bottle of their fine shiraz.I also bought a few jars of their homemade preserves which are fantastic and all on display for tasting too.

We met the boys back at the pub where they started playing pool again while listening to the Footy.

We all went back to our rooms to freshen up before going to the Salt'n Vines restaurant outside of Clare's main road for a gorgeous meal, very well served in a nice setting...We all kept lurking at the amazing seafood platters they were offering around us!!

It was time to go back to the pub...last drinks and games...chatting with the locals...

In the morning after a well needed spa (lukewarm water!) we all split and my husband and I decided to have the "can't-beat-that-deal" $7.50 breakfast at the Caltex on Main road (picture included as a proof!!) run by Chris and his wife, a local we had met the night before in the pub!
It was superb!...just like the breakfast you cook at home, with unlimited tea or coffee on top of it, free of charge!

That was the best way to end this lovely weekend in the Clare Valley!

I will go back as there are so many other wineries I haven't even come close to...next adventure...