Adelaide > Clare
We’d already decided that the day’s activities would kick off with a daylight stroll around Henley Beach, since our post-nightfall arrival had precluded sightseeing. Down the road and around the corner we passed the former headquarters of the Australian Cricket Academy before heading out along the jetty for a look back down the coast towards Glenelg.
We headed back to base through the restaurant quarter, where Madam spotted Stella, the establishment where she’d hoped to dine the previous night. Changes to the flight schedule between the time we’d booked back in April and our departure combined with Monday night to put an end to that option. I suppose that we could have looked more closely, but I didn’t recall any lights emanating from that direction the night before and Madam had forgotten the details of the name of the place (other than it started with S).
But there’s always next time.
And there almost certainly will be a next time, given that there’s plenty South Australia left for Hughesy to explore and the strategic location of Meleden Villa with respect to late-arriving flights.
Your mileage on the actual accommodation may, however, vary. Before booking Madam carries out extensive on-line research, and she’d found that the place had attracted a variety of ratings.
That’s understandable, since it’s not the sort of place you’d want to go if you’re looking for something that shines, sparkles and is brand spanking new. Some might also be put off by the lack of a substantial cooked breakfast.
On the other hand, a request for advice on the best route to take to link up with the Main North Road to Clare produced the clearest and best directed mud map I can recall seeing along with helpful driving instructions which turned out handy when we found ourselves surrounded by semitrailers at a key intersection without a road sign in sight.
As previously stated, opinions may vary, but we found the place comfortable and I, for one, would have absolutely no hesitation about going back. I see very little point in looking further if we’re looking for overnight accommodation close to the airport on the way in or out of Adelaide.
After some slight excitement at the aforementioned key intersection the journey north was uneventful except for a slight incident involving alternative routes through and around Gawler and road-works around the place where the alternatives reunited.
But, thanks to the fact that we were just inside the geographic limits of the street directory we were able to backtrack without too much trouble.
Auburn is located at the southern end of the Clare Valley, and we arrived there about eleven-thirty and found our base for the next three nights without much trouble. We found the proprietress on site, which led to a guided tour of the facilities along and handy advice about the neighbourhood.
Working on the principle that it was Melbourne Cup Day and that places that would normally open 363 days a year (Christmas and Good Friday being the exceptions) may well have decided to go to some race-related function we started off with a stroll around Auburn, passing a Cup function which I suspected might have attracted a number of the local proprietors.
Of the two wineries located in the town, Grosset (listed in my iPod notes as Australia’s foremost Riesling maker) opens for approximately six weeks from early September until stocks are sold out, so it was hardly surprising to find the sign at the entrance suggesting that we’d better come back in ten months if we wanted a taste. Still, it was worth going for a look, and I was hoping that somewhere along the road we’d run across one of the wines at an eatery somewhere and, hopefully, it’d be available by the glass.
I already knew that the other winery in town (Mount Horrocks) was only open on weekends, but there’s a cafe located in the old Auburn railway station which I thought might just be open on Cup Day (wrong!) Anyway, it lay on our way back to the centre of town, where we expected to find lunch.
Back in downtown Auburn we found that the cafe (Cygnets at Auburn) had gone racing so it was a case of lunch in the pub. Insufficient perusal of the menu options resulted in disappointment for ‘Er Indoors, who had obviously forgotten advice to ignore anything described as schnitzel unless you’re absolutely sure that it’s freshly made, but my trio of sausages on a bed of mash with a red onion jelly filled the void nicely and provided a bed of blotting paper that would become important once tasting started.
As previously intimated, Auburn lies at the southern end of the Clare Valley, which is basically a string of townships with Clare lying at the northern extremity, so I’d planned a strategy that worked on covering the southern end on the first day, then going on to Clare and working south on the other two. One day would cover the eastern side of the Main North Road with a trip through Polish Hill River to Mintaro and on the second day I planned to work along the western side of the highway.
With that plan in mind, we started by heading to Taylors which I figured, being a larger concern, would be less liable to be affected by Cup Fever.
As usual, when the tasting room attendant offered two glasses I explained that Madam was the designated driver and that one glass would be sufficient since she’d be taking a sip now and then once I’d identified something that she might like.
Of the five ranges on offer, I ignored the Promised Land ($13) and 80 Acres ($15) which are widely available and frequently discounted, working through the Estate ($18), Jaraman ($24.50 whites, $29.50 reds) and St Andrews ($35 whites, $60 reds) ranges.
The whites were all good, the Riesling offering everything you’d expect from a high quality Clare Riesling, and I particularly liked the Estate Gewurtztraminer and the two Chardonnays, but the reds were uniformly outstanding. Madam was particularly taken with the St Andrews Cabernet Sauvignon which she liked more than a certain nameless but quite pleasant drop we’d encountered at twice the price. We don’t get to try a lot of $60 wines, but from our (admittedly limited) experience the St Andrews reds punch well above their weight.
Back in the car we headed past Eyre Creek (closed, as expected) towards O’Leary Walker, which I’d hoped to visit, only to find it closed due to cellar door renovations, which I guess have to be done some time and on to Mintaro Cellars (closed, racing suspected) before deciding we might as well head back to base to catch the race ourselves.
As it turned out we should have checked the starting time more carefully since we turned on the TV in time for the end of the presentations. At least it gave me some time to work on the trip diary before a stroll along a section of the Riesling Trail, a sauna for Madam and a light supper washed down with the complimentary bottle of Annie’s Lane Riesling that was waiting for us on arrival.