A blustery day, and wine

The wind is still blowing so hard I can hardly stand up, and as I head south the rain begins, a drizzle giving way to a mean pelt. This clearly calls for a few stops in the Clare Valley.

As Sonoma is to Napa, Clare is the less known sibling of Australia’s nearby and famed Barossa. But it’s wines … especially its Rieslings and Shirazes … are quite something.

The wine-tasting experience is easy and intimate, without any fees. One place a woman greets you in a wood-furnished tasting room before a fire, the next offers tastings in the former mud room of a farmhouse. Deb, of Elvira Olive Oils, serves up her oils and her homemade jams in a small room just off her carport. Her ketchup … seasoned with anis… is unbeatable.

Best red of the afternoon: Knappstein’s 2003 Shiraz, with a smart peppery finish, about $17. Best white: Kirrihilli’s 2006 Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc, fruity with an oak finish, about $13.