Over 180 years of winemaking
Winemaking in the Clare Valley dates from the 1840s, making it one of the oldest continuously producing wine regions in Australia, with roots in early British and German settlement, Catholic missionary activity, and later technical innovation that helped define modern Australian Riesling.
Over nearly two centuries the region has evolved from small mixed farms and sacramental wine to an internationally recognised source of high‑quality Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Colonial beginnings (1840s–1860s)
European settlement in the Clare district began in the early 1840s, when pastoralists such as John Ainsworth Horrocks at Penwortham and Edmund Gleeson at Clare established mixed farms and planted some of the first vines, likely including Grenache.
A decisive moment came in 1851 when the Jesuit order founded Sevenhill, planting vineyards from local cuttings and building underground cellars to supply sacramental wine for churches across the colony; this is widely regarded as the first winery in the Clare Valley and one of the oldest in South Australia still operating.
By the late 1850s Sevenhill reportedly had several acres of vines bearing significant volumes of wine and brandy, establishing a commercial as well as religious base for winemaking.
Growth of local estates (1860s–early 1900s)
From the 1860s new vineyards spread south through Watervale, Leasingham and Auburn, often founded by small landholders or miners who had made money from nearby copper discoveries at places like Burra.
German and central‑European influence remained strong, with winemakers such as Carl Sobels and the Buring family bringing technical knowledge and favouring white varieties suited to the cooler parts of the valley. By the 1890s larger properties such as St Andrews and companies like the Stanley Wine Company in Clare itself (now Mr. Mick Wines) were established, signalling a shift from purely local consumption to broader domestic markets.
innovation and Riesling focus (1900s–1970s)
Through the early 20th century Clare’s producers had to manage fluctuating demand, phylloxera‑free but economically vulnerable vineyards, and periodic grape surpluses, which prompted the formation of grower cooperatives such as the Clarevale Cooperative Winery in 1929–30. These co‑ops allowed small growers to process fruit locally and stabilised the region during difficult years between the wars and the Depression.
Clare winemakers were early adopters of technology, with figures like Leo Buring encouraging controlled cool fermentation for white wines and experimenting with styles such as flor sherry, while others refined cellar cooling to handle warm vintages.
As plantings of high‑quality Riesling clones expanded, the region was well placed to benefit from Australia’s “white wine boom” of the 1970s, cementing Clare’s association with dry, ageworthy Riesling.
Modern era and key families (1970s–present)
From the 1960s and 1970s, a new wave of family and corporate investment arrived, including the Taylor family establishing extensive Cabernet vineyards near Auburn and building one of the region’s largest modern wineries. Around the same time, Jim Barry became the first Clare‑trained oenologist and founded Jim Barry Wines, helping to professionalise local winemaking and spawning a multi‑generational network of winemaker descendants and labels.
Today the Clare Valley is best known globally for Riesling but actually has more Shiraz and Cabernet planted by area, reflecting a mature, diversified regional industry underpinned by both historic estates like Sevenhill and newer boutique producers such as Tim Adams Wines.
Many of the original 19th‑century stone wineries and cellars survive, and the region’s wine culture is closely tied to its Irish, German, Polish and Jesuit heritage, visible in place names such as Polish Hill River, Armagh and Sevenhill.
