The last occasion we were there was ten years ago. There is a square in the centre of Sablet – actually more of a triangle set on a slope – and like most French villages, the centre is quite busy, particularly in the mornings. Andrew made a sharp right turn to access a vacant parking space and stalled on the junction, blocking the road through the village in both directions. The car (a Renault) decided to have a tantrum and would not restart.

At this point we were beginning to feel rather hungry so Judith went to a nearby restaurant and asked about lunch. The proprietor made up a cold platter which Judith took to the car, together with a beer. Andrew sat in the back of the car, where there was a pull-down table, to enjoy his lunch while waiting for the mechanic, repeating to motorists ‘Ma voiture est en panne’. He received various comments from passers-by who seemed to think that he had parked in this inconsiderate manner to have a picnic! Bon appetit! L’anglais fou! . . .

At last the Renault man arrived and unlocked the steering in about three minutes. Andrew was keen to leave the scene immediately, but Judith said: we have come to Sablet to buy some wine – we are going to buy some wine! We chose our Piaugier wines at the Maison des Vins, and departed, some three hours later than planned.

Several years later, at a tasting presented by Charles Eaton, of Nethergate Wines, we were delighted to discover that he offers two Sablet wines: Sablet Rouge Piaugier (£12.97) and Sablet Reve de Marine Domaine de Piaugier (£16.42). So we can relive our adventure in Sablet at home which, in retrospect, actually seems quite amusing.

Sadly, post-Brexit, those wines, which were costing us about £4 per bottle, will now cost about the same as in any supermarket here. Portugal Vineyards explained:

“The wines are subject to excise duty and for wines up to 15% alcohol volume it’s £2.23 per bottle of 750ml. Sparkling wines have a different excise, it should be £2.86 per bottle of 750ml. For a fortified wine such as a Port Wine it is £2.97 per bottle of 750ml.” 

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted!

Thinking of food pairing, we have enjoyed some Maison Bleue Léa takeaway meals. The Xavier Santana Muscatel went brilliantly with their Fig Panna Cotta, so much so that unusually for me I had the same dessert twice in a row. But I’m afraid you cannot test this yourself because the Panna Cotta is no longer on their menu.

Finally, I keep a five year diary and read back from previous years each day as I write. I cannot help noticing that periodically the standard of my handwriting deteriorated markedly; this always happened on WSFWS evenings. I do hope it is not too long before this happens again! 

My son lives in Adelaide in South Australia, a state with a large and varied range of wine regions, many within easy reach of the city. These include the Barossa, McLaren Vale, the Clare Valley, the Eden Valley and the Adelaide Hills. Apologies to members who may be familiar with the area, but Adelaide is not often on a British itinerary.

I want to share with you some experiences of the Adelaide Hills region and the recent bush fire disaster there. The Adelaide Hills rise up directly east of Adelaide, reaching about 3000 feet in altitude, and are visible from my son’s house. Altitude, combined with proximity to the ocean, results in a cool climate region, in Australian terms. It is a scenically very beautiful area and also famous for its orchards, particularly of cherries and apples, cheese production (eg “Udder Delights” and the Woodside Wrights) and fine dining, often in restaurants attached to wineries.

The majority of vineyards are quite small family businesses, many of which were established in the 1980s and ‘90s, as “boutique” wineries. Many have ‘cellar doors’ where you can taste wines and buy directly. They benefit from the local conditions to produce varietals which prefer a cooler climate, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and a richer, medium bodied style of Shiraz, which they sometimes call Syrah to reflect the more European style.

When I arrived in Adelaide in early January 2020, there was only a hint of smoke in the city from the bush fires which were still burning in the Hills, but by then there were also catastrophic fires on Kangaroo island to the South, devastating the rare wildlife, as well as their vineyards and claiming two people’s lives.

The fires in the Adelaide Hills were at their height just before Christmas, with December 20th the worst day, but they continued to burn for weeks. It was estimated that a third of the Adelaide Hills vineyard production was wiped out by the fires, particularly affecting the area around Cudlee Creek, Lenswood and Woodside, where many of the smaller enterprises are located.

The fires destroyed winery buildings, cellar doors and restaurants and family homes, but perhaps the most disastrous of all was the destruction of the vines themselves. At that time of year there are densely green, large canopies of vines and one might not expect them to burn easily but the fire just went right through them. Unlike a frost or disease which might wipe out production for a season, it takes about 7 years to rebuild a vineyard. Some damaged vines, initially thought totally destroyed have come back to life with irrigation but many vineyards were lost, along with their family homes.

What happened then was a remarkable response at the official, community and personal level. There were widespread “benefit“ events, state and federal funding and individual support for the many sectors which had been impacted by the fires. The Adelaide daily paper ran a major campaign. The wineries asked people to buy up the stocks of wine available from past vintages in order to fund rebuilding. I have a favourite independent wine shop in Adelaide, – East End Cellars,(see below,)where they were eager to support my wish to buy wine from affected wineries, which in my case were Vinteloper (www.Vinteloper.co.au) and Turon (www.turonwines.com.au).

Australians were encouraged to visit the cellar doors and vineyard restaurants as soon as they re-opened. However, no sooner had some managed to get straight enough to open, when they were closed again by the Covid lockdown, which lasted until May in South Australia. The state and international borders have remained closed since then, which may actually have assisted the wineries as tourism and buying locally has been very much encouraged.

Few of the boutique wineries export their wines overseas, so those are rarely available in the UK. However, Majestic had a Bushfire Fundraiser selling rare vintages from the very badly damaged Bird in Hand,(Red Winemaker of the Year at the 2019 International Wine Challenge), with profits going to the South Australian Country Fire Service. (www.birdinhand.com.au). Wine Direct (www.winedirect.co.uk) have wines from Bird in Hand and Pike and Joyce, also fire affected.

There are plenty of Adelaide Hills wines available in the UK, sometimes from medium sized businesses whose main production may be elsewhere but who have vineyards in the Hills. I note that the Wine Society has Adelaide Hills chardonnays from Wirra Wirra (HQ McLaren Vale) and Bleasdale (Langhorne Creek.) Majestic have wines from Shaw and Smith (an excellent producer), Petaluma and Kangarilla Road. However, please note that these wines are generally not for casual quaffing and have a price tag which reflects their quality!

Please do buy Adelaide Hills wines. The chardonnays have nothing to do with those big fat oily Aussie chardies of yesteryear! And by buying them you may also be helping very committed wine makers and families to rebuild after a frightening and disastrous year in which their lives and livelihoods have been put at risk, – followed by Covid.

We would have the occasional lunch out, as a treat (probably not regarded as such by our boys James and john, who would rather have stayed by the pool), and chose to visit a rather swish looking place near one of the villages. How we chose it, heaven knows, there was no Trip Advisor, but there was an additional and unexpected ‘attraction’ in the form of a traveling bullring. We must have stumbled upon ‘Una Fiesta Brava’ because the village had a distinctly festive ambience, with many women and girls dressed in alluring flamenco-style polka-dot dresses.

The idea of the bullfight did not appeal, but we did get caught up in the ambiance. As a consequence, whist there is no way we would have wanted to see the bullfight in close-up, we did get to sneak a view from the nearby hillside, where we could hear the pasadobles and the roar of the crowd, without the gore.

What we had for lunch escapes me entirely; we knew we had to have a white wine for refreshment, but were doubtful whether it would be pleasurable – this was not so many years after you could buy a bottle of sparkling white wine for half a crown, and still wines often had a brownish tinge through oxidation which rendered them distinctly unpleasant. I probably sought advice, and accepted the recommended bottle of Viña Sol.

What a revelation! Very pale and limpid in the glass, clean and fresh on the nose: on the palate, a fresh mouthfeel with a suggestion of green apple, dry, but without stinging acidity. Oh my, on that hot, dry day, how we enjoyed it! It was only later that we came to realise we should not have been surprised by this ‘cool climate’ delight. It was from Familia Torres, a Spanish producer we have learned to respect for appealing wines at reasonable prices. Red, white and rosé, I doubt there is a dud among them and their ‘quality wines’ are worth the premium.

Viña Sol is made from Parellada, an indigenous Spanish variety widely used in Cava, there must be other still white wines in which it is used, but I’m not aware of them. In 2012, Viña Sol celebrated 50 years of production and whilst the label may have been spruced up (and long-since lost the side-line ‘Spanish Chablis’) it continues to be an excellent refresher for a hot summer’s day.

In the UK, Viña Sol is very widely available in supermarkets. It is priced between £6.00 (Morrisons offer price) and £7.70 (Waitrose). Sadly, there is no Viña Sol in my cellar… I must look out for an offer price a bit closer to home than Morrisons.