First planted in the 1840’s, Clare is widely regarded as Australia’s finest riesling producer -particularly from the two unofficial sub-regions of Watervale and Polish Hill River, which produce wines of two distinctive styles.

There has been a lot of discussion about recognising the two sub-regions officially within the Clare Valley GI, and with the current push for Australian wines toexpress and define their regionality, it may be time for more serious consideration.
Located 1.5 hours north of Adelaide, the region is home to about 5,700 hectares of vineyard and considerable variation in topography, soil types and aspect. Its elevation rises from 400 to 500 metres -similar to the Adelaide Hills and Eden Valley.

Aside from riesling, Clare also has a long history of producing well-structured and full-bodied shiraz and cabernet sauvignon (often blended with malbec) and, surprisingly, the area planted to these varieties comfortably exceeds the area dedicated to riesling.

In the late 1990’s many of the winemakers in Clare decided to adopt screw caps (somewhat against market sentiment at the time) and are largely  responsible for its resurgence.
  
Constellation and Foster’s (for now) have a large presence in the region, although it is well suited to smaller boutique producers. There are about50 wineries in the Clare Valley with some of the better-known premium producers being Crabtree of Watervale, Killakanoon, Skillogalee, Grosset, Pikes, Paulelts and Tim Adams.