There is a wonderful ‘lookout’ in the Clare Valley at the end of Spring Gully Road. Looking west into the far haze is the top end of the Gulf country and then you can imagine the Nullarbor Plain continuing on forever. When I stand at that spot, I think of what a great oddity the Clare and its wines are. I understand how the taste of wines is created yet the Clare just puzzles me more and more.
The place is far north, it can get hot yet is saved by the elevation. Yet there is more, and it must be the coolness that moves North up the Gulf’s from the Great Southern Ocean. How else do you explain the strength and delicacy of the Rieslings and the power of the reds which do not collapse into over-ripe puddings but stand firm with complex flavours that should not appear in wines this far north with semi-desert all around. Yet here we are!
