The Clare Valley planted its first Riesling vines in 1851, the same year gold was discovered three hundred kilometres south. While diggers flooded Victoria, Jesuit priests and Silesian farmers laid out terraces along a narrow north-south corridor where limestone bedrock and diurnal temperature swings would become the signature of Australian Riesling. By the 1890s the valley supported forty-three wineries; Prohibition-era preference for fortifieds reduced that number to seven by 1945. The modern renaissance began in the 1980s when winemakers Jeffrey Grosset and Tim Knappstein championed dry table styles, and today the region produces more than half of Australia's premium Riesling on just two per cent of the nation's vineyard area. Clare Valley tours from Adelaide appeal to wine travelers seeking an alternative to the Barossa's Shiraz monoculture. The valley runs thirty-five kilometres from Auburn in the south to Clare in the north, narrow enough that the Riesling Trail — a rail-trail cycling route linking seven townships — threads nearly every cellar door. Spring Gully Road, Polish Hill River and Watervale form the geographic spine; each sub-region carries distinct soil profiles that express themselves in acidity, minerality and aging potential. Sevenhill Cellars, established by Jesuits in 1851 and still operated by the order, remains the oldest winery in continuous production. Visitors can tour the underground cellars and stone church before tastings in the original fermentation hall. The valley's architecture reflects its Central European settlement pattern. Stone cottages built from local slate and limestone line the main street of Mintaro, a township gazetted in 1849 and largely unchanged since Federation. The Clare Valley Visitor Centre on Spring Gully Road distributes maps marking fifty-two cellar doors, farm gates and providores; most operate daily except Christmas and Good Friday, with extended hours common during vintage in March and April. Guided Clare Valley wine tours typically depart Adelaide at 9:00 and return by 18:00, covering four to six wineries with a tasting-platter lunch at a heritage property. Self-drive itineraries allow for a slower pace, and accommodation at Sevenhill, Mintaro or the Clare township itself converts a day trip into a two-night immersion in Australia's most concentrated Riesling district.