Clare Valley
Warm days, cold nights, and enough altitude to make Riesling the signature of a region this far inland. Clare's producers also drove the move to screwcap in 2000, which is why Australian white wine mostly does not have a cork in it.
Known for
- Riesling
- Shiraz
- Cabernet Sauvignon
Why Clare Valley tastes the way it does
A set of narrow valleys at altitude, warm by day and cold at night, which holds acid in the fruit. Riesling is the signature: dry, taut and long-lived, nothing like the sweeter style the grape carries elsewhere. Shiraz and Cabernet off the same hills are firm rather than plush.
January averages 22.9°C here and the growing season adds up to 1,931 heat units, which is warm, and it shows in riper, fuller wine.
A short history
Vines were planted from the 1840s, with Jesuit priests making sacramental wine from 1851, which they still do. In 2000 a group of Clare producers moved their Riesling to screwcap together, which is a large part of why Australian white wine mostly does not have a cork in it.
Clare Valley was registered as a protected wine name in 1999, which makes the boundary a legal definition rather than a marketing one.
What your house does to a bottle from Clare Valley
A bottle from Clare Valley ages at the rate its temperature sets, not at the rate the vintage chart says. Barello's model is the physical one: every 10°C above 13°C roughly doubles the rate, and at 25°C or more you are not ageing it, you are cooking it. Pick where you live and where the bottle actually sits.
Choose a city and a spot, and this line will tell you how much faster the bottle is ageing than it would in a cellar.
This is the same model that dates every bottle in Barello. Open the app to run it against your own wine. Or read how to store wine without a cellar, or the wine temperature chart.
Clare Valley in numbers
| Planted vineyard | 4,993 ha | number 9 of 64 in Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Region area | 680 km² | 7.34% of it under vine |
| Grapes crushed | 21,624 t a year | 4.3 tonnes a hectare |
| January average | 22.9°C | number 44 coolest of 64 |
| Heat units | 1,931 | warmth added up over the growing season |
| Land in the GI rises | 190 to 609 m | the boundary, not where the vines are |
| Registered | 1999 | as a protected name |
Nearby
- Barossa Valley75 km south, known for Shiraz instead
- Eden Valley91 km south east, 1.0°C cooler
- Adelaide Hills123 km south, 1.8°C cooler
Distances are between the registered centres of each region, so they are as the crow flies rather than as the road goes.
Where these numbers come from
Boundaries and figures: Wine Australia Geographical Indications register, used under CC BY 4.0. Climate figures are the register's own long-run averages, measured in the vineyard. The history and the tasting notes above are Barello's own.