The strolling is wonderful on the Wine & Wilderness Trail in South Australia‘s Clare Valley. We go blue gum flowers on the crest of hills in addition to deep purple patches of untamed lavender. Rustles within the timber at occasions reveal a wallaby. My information, Tim Grigg, says he usually sees echidnas and koalas, however I used to be holding out for a kangaroo; maybe he and I’d see one scampering between the orderly rows of vines.
Until not too long ago Clare Valley, which is lower than a two-hour drive north of Adelaide, has been overshadowed by its better-known neighbors: McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, and the Barossa Valley. That is altering quick, due to the elegant Shirazes and excellent dry Rieslings and to new lodging and experiences like this six-day, 62-mile path, which was finalized in 2024 to assist mix the most effective of Australia’s wilderness with its distinctive meals and wine. Grigg has been guiding on this space for 25 years and is aware of, for instance, that in hotter climate all of the mountain climbing ought to occur within the morning, permitting vacationers to admire the eucalyptus and riverbeds within the Spring Gully Conservation Park earlier than languid lunches of slow-roasted lamb and heritage asparagus at estates like Skillogalee, a historic winery with cottages for overnights and a newly imagined fundamental home to open this yr. Other new openings right here embody the upscale Stillhouse at Clare Valley Distillery, a luxurious cottage that sleeps eight, in addition to Taylors Wines, the celebrated producer that’s now the one native winery to be a part of the premium Ultimate Winery Experiences, which permit vacationers to transcend commonplace tastings to actually get to know the wine, its makers, and its manufacturing. At Taylors, which means a behind-the-scenes vineyard tour and guided river stroll.