Drive in to the National Wine Centre - building looks like a giant exploding barrel - in Adelaide to meet Dr Tony Jordan.

Dr T is on a whole bunch of committees there. It's what you do when you retire apparently. (Good motivation to keep working, if you ask me).

He might now have retired from running Moët et Chandon's Green Point Sparkling Winery in the Yarra (he built the place), but the energetic Doctor is still roaming the global vineyard advising and being consulted. He was, after all, the Original Flying Winemaker! He IS The Oracle of Fizz. A God...he IS going to kill me if I don't shut up.

Suffice to say Dr Tony is moving quietly through doors closed to all except the most exalted and finding us some truly wonderful secret wines we'd never hear about otherwise. Try Homestead Brut or Beaton Track Pinot Noir.

We also met there Richard and Victoria Angove - fifth generation wine family, he, wielding a cricket bat. To psyche me up I thought. But no. Seems they grew up in the house next to Sir Donald Bradman here in Adelaide and knew him well. So probably Angove's is what 'The Don' drank? That should impress my Aussie Bro-in-Law who cares naught for wine... but cricket... Hey, that's serious!

I didn't have time to visit the Angove's place, so it was nice of them to come and see me. We posed for Jennie in the little vineyard next door in the Botanical Gardens, pretending we were up the far Barossa!

Then we rounded off our tour with a good lunch. Nathan Waks who makes our 'Baroota' (a name Aussie blokes find amusing) invited us to George's on Waymouth Street. Where we seriously broke our rule about not drinking until after work. Well, the restaurant had these magnums of his Killikanoon Shiraz and Grenache. Garlanded with so many awards and Parker ratings. His was selected by Parker to represent Australia in a Best Grenache's tasting he put on a his recent big Symposium in Rioja. And Jancis Robinson, no less (always a Goddess to me) reckons it's the finest she's ever had. Say "No" to that? We partook.

Nathan was 'till recently Principal Cellist for The Sydney Symphony Orchestra. But wine seems to have taken over. He and friends just bought the old Seppeltsfield winery which apart the other advantages of owning an icon, has stocks of every single vintage of port for the last hundred or so years!

Someone drove me home to McLV ...snoring I believe.

We did just pop round to make up with the Scarpantoni's. Perhaps I should just say I only joke about them being the Dangerous Scarpantoni's because they are actually the opposite. And they do seem to win award after award.

They were brandishing a huge gold cup this time. But their proudest recent coup was to have carried off the Sauvignon Blanc trophy against a massive field of New Zealand's finest Sauvignons. To make a Sauvignon to beat the Kiwi's ... in McLaren Flat ... that is just amazing. It is a superb wine. Even Jean-Marc would love it. They are modest enough to admit they can't do this quality every year. But they sure did in '09. Hope our Thomas gets us some.

Back at RedHeads we had a visit from The Good Doctor; Matt Brown. One of the key RedHeads gang who has found the hobby I suspect every doctor I know would just love to have. He stirs a stonking red tonic from the best, richest Shiraz. So rich it looks OK for transfusion.

And that really was that. No time for more. Couple hours sleep and on the redeye to Sydney.

End of a glorious - if short - trip, better and better wines, lovely people...despite their worries.

Tough times in the vineyards here.

A lot of this year's excellent crop will end up just dropped on the ground.

I look to all my customers to help ease their pain.

You do need to try this stuff. You loved it before. Now it's better than ever you thought. There's masses more variety and individuality than ever you thought. And they are giving it away.

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Barossa way today. Via Adelaide Hills. Winding through the tight valleys to Chain of Ponds at Gumeracha.

Chris Milner is a big Yorkshire lad from Sheffield who hasn't lost his accent but thinks the weather's better here. An accountant (almost cured) he runs this nice, efficient low-overhead operation with Paul Zerella who we knew at Tatachilla in the old days.

Their wines have those bright flavours you associate with the cool hills. Is it cool? Always several degrees cooler. Today in the bright sun, I've a sweater on. Makes a difference to wine. Whereas, this year, everything in The Vale And Barossa is ready to come in, there are Cabernets up here won't be in for 3 weeks.

Then on to Henschke at Keyneton. One of the great original Silesian (was Germany now Poland) ...families of wine who, thankfully, still have their winery. Many consider their Hill of Grace surpasses even Grange. And it's an actual vineyard, whereas Grange, of course, isn't.

Twelve years ago our Henry came here as a poor, teenage 'cellar rat' at Tatachilla and blew his savings on a single bottle of their Mount Edelstone - which he's still got. No rush says Stephen. Stephen and Pru have long been Organic and seriously into Bio-Dynamic which is basically 'back to the old ways'; venerating your land, soils, vines and all the little bugs that do good work for you ...if you look after them.

Finally to Kym Teusner at Nuriootpa. New 'sheddiste' dedicated to saving old vineyards like the 80/90 year old gnarly monsters owned by the Riebke brothers Steve and Leon who farm - very carefully nearbye. And - so the story goes - turned up at Kym's nascent little cellar one day with a truckful of old vine Shiraz.

They'd had a road to Damascus moment on their way to deposit their contracted fruit with... I'll not say, lawyers have enough work...(But very big/also make a lot of lager) decided they'd had enough of their ancient vine fruit being just dumped in with a million tons of Godknowswhat and stopped, thought, said "soddit" and turned into Kym's shed yard. They'd heard there was this young chap really appreciated quality grapes. That was, I think, '03, and the brothers have been back every year since; Kym's major supplier.

We went to see them and look at their antique vines and sheds. The family turned out. Numerous children. And dogs. Never been photographed before. Contented. I think those old vines are safe now.

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A day in the cool hills

Went up into the hills to see Michael Fragos at Chapel Hill which is, not too surprisingly, a winery in a converted chapel. Except it's grown somewhat. Michael has won enough awards to be considered the finest winemaker in these parts. Same old Michael though. Just like in the good old Tatachilla days. Never gets old. Henry, 17, did his apprenticeship under Michael.

Then further up the hills to David Hickinbotham's incrediby beautiful estate. He brought his 85 year old Dad, Alan, along and we photographed the pair of them standing in front of their gorgeous valley of vines they began planting back in the Seventies.

We inspected David's shed. Converted shearing shed with tin foil insulation; all very 'sheddiste'. Surprisingly modest. Hicks family build, I believe, more houses than any other developer in Australia, and have done for decades. Wine is a sideline. Serious one, though. It was a Hickinbotham uncle who set up Australia's great Wine College; Roseworthy, which trained the winemakers who made Aussie wine what it is today.

Then a very special visit. David was 'Eco' well before eco was invented. He was always going on about his underground house that needed no air conditioning and little heating. Thirty years old now. Built in stone. And so quiet. Peaceful view through gum trees to the vineyards. I'd like one of those. David's idea was to show the government what the ideal house for the Aussie climate should look like. They turned him down of course. And it's got a lot hotter since.

Another approach to the heat thing is Geoff Hardy's. The terrace of his house on the water has to be the nicest place for a tasting on a hot day. Build a dam and put a wood house on stilts over the pond. I'd like one of those too.

His daughter Jess, now winemaker for us at RedHeads, took us there - it's just outside the McLaren Vale region in Adelaide Hills. Jess' sister Bec - another beauty - organised, Dad relaxed. As much as you can with a walkie-talkie strapped to your head and four hundred acres being harvested. Only one or two Hardy's have anything to do with their old firm which is part of Constellation now. Sad, I think, for the family, but they're a tough lot and wine - usually ground-breaking wine is, and always will be, in their blood.

Stayed too long, eating the tastiest Sauvignon grapes ever. Got to Scarpantoni's late. And they'd gone home. Oh Dear. I'm in trouble! No-one messes with the Scarpantoni's. This might be my last Diary.

Late supper at The Victory. Doug looking fit and well. New woman!

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Yesterday was Phil Christiansen's 50th birthday so there was a party in his shed up on Chalk Hill.

Phil is the 'Godfather of Shed'. He came up with the idea. So he has the biggest shed and a huge number of friends/disciples. So his party was always going to be big. He invited us last September when he was over at La Clariere bringing his wisdom to our vintage. So here we are. His timing was risky; harvest has started; he has a couple of tubs going. But next week the entire floor will be covered in fizzing grapes. Would have been tricky for a party.

I got a call from Barbara telling me about the other Big Party back home. Yesterday the Mayor of Southwark opened our vast new Wine Arch at Vinopolis. It was packed out and a good tasting had by all. On Saturday we had nearly a thousand people come and taste, buy and take part in our Laithwaites Lucky Dip, where every wine was £5, which could get you one anything from one of our bestsellers to a bottle of Haut-Brion. They were queuing up outside the shop before it opened!

I'm doing a tasting in The Arch on 10th March. We're over subscribed for that, but I'll be doing another soon (I'll let you know the date). We've already got sixty people on the list for the next tasting. Contact the shop; (thearch@laithwaiteswine.com) if you’d like to be on the list! We've also got a tasting this Wednesday with our Papavero producer and a week on Friday with our New Zealand Stonewall producer. Drop them an email if you'd like to meet a winemaker and taste some amazing wine.

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Paying a few visits

Woken by the Galahs. Big screechy pink and white parrots behave like delinquents.

Hooked up, as they say here, with Emily the photographer who has charted RedHeads history since when it was just one little shed. Today, we are  going to see - and record - how it grew. We are going see to ALL the sheds if we can this week.

Recap; we helped set up 'RedHeads' in '03 because Australia's wine industry was going wrong. It seemed all the nice little independent, usually family, wineries were being bought up by the Big Groups to the point where 90%+ of Aussie wine came from just four outfits. Good old cellars were shut down and their production moved to mega-wineries the size of oil refineries. WRONG!

Out went the individuality and the character we craved. In came the boring and the bland. It worked with the supermarkets ... For a while. Until the customers realised it all tasted the same.  Never any use to Laithwaites. We desperately needed new sources.

And ... The young winemakers we knew felt they were just like workers on a production line.  They couldn't 'create'. They just pushed buttons.

So one fine, mad day, with one fine mad young bloke, we bought them the old shed and they came, nights mostly, and did their individual little things, played rock music, drank cold beers and played pinball. It worked for them and us and caught on round the world. So well, it spilled out of the one shed and became a 'Movement'. The 'Sheddists' were born.

Starting with the late, great Mr. Piombo they set up their own 'RedHeads' very basic cellar model at home. Now, you no longer had to be rich to set up a winery. Any poor farmer or 'barrel-monkey' could make their own wine.

Not easy. Not at all bloody easy. But possible.

So today first we go surprise Nat McMurtrie. Emily and I feel like Attenborough and crew. As we part the foliage and spot the 'Natsky' and his Mates in their natural habitat of sheds and rusting tractors, cars and machinery. They are performing a time-honoured ritual; laying concrete just before vintage. Why they do this no-one knows. All year, winery sheds stand silent. Eleven quiet months to lay concrete, build new bits etc in tranquillity.

So when do they do it? Vintage month! Feb/March. Always. Concrete never gets to set properly here.

Great visit. Once past the wet concrete. Nat's '08 wonderful. Nat - in his hat - Supermodel. We reckon shy bachelor Nat will be inundated with calls when the pics are published. Though a tidy woman could wreak havoc in Nat's wild domain.

Then we go Italian and meet the Pieri's. Andrew has his new shed alongside his old shed, alongside his Dad's ancient shed. The boys pose like professionals - it's the Italian, I guess - Mum not so happy. Their rich red is stunning. Their even richer Amarone-style astonishing. We'll not mention the grappa or the home-made salamis and ham. It's hard not to stay all day with the Pieri's.

Then, in the Back Shed at the Old 'RedHeads' we find our Henry. Going through his barrels of '08 to make his blend. Just the top dozen go into his iconic Wilson-Gunn. The rest ... not quite. But will make a valuable contribution to one of 'RedHeads' bigger blends like 'Back Shed' or 'Rack One'. And here's Hoops  - Adam Hooper - or 'The Man' to take possession. Fascinating tasting. The '08s fall into two groups; the pre and post heatwave wines. The latter like liquid jam. O.T.T. Great blending material though.

In the 'arvo' another italian family - from Molise hills above Termoli where I used to buy so much way back when. The Petrucci's; Joe Michael and Rosa from Castellino long supplied the great Gregg Trott at Wirra Wirra next door.

Trotty was a great man. 'Made McLaren Vale'. First cellar here for me ... '84 I think. Much missed. I think they are building a monument to him.

The Petrucci's are on their own now. Big Shed. Huge success. There's this 'Sports personality of the Year' type trophy for 'Best Australian Wine of the Year'. Called the George Mackey. Awarded by the quality Inspectors at the Government run Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation; the people who must, by law, taste and approve every exported Aussie wine. Last year they tasted 16,717 wines and nominated 131 for the final grand taste-off. Michael's 2005 Cabernet won. Up on The Winner Board with names like Coldstream Hills, Hardys, Cape Mentelle, Rosemount, Tatachilla, Wirra Wirra and Penfolds Grange.

Sadly, when he won he had hardly any wine left to sell. But ... Always the next vintage.

Another star place; the Bosworth's. She's from Nottingham. He's old Aussie stock. And a leading 'organic'. All our suppliers are pretty organic minded. That goes with the love of the land and vine they all share. So we don't usually make a song and dance. But Bos is special. Sitting in the heat, on the shady verandah of their little old stone cottage under the towering shady gums drinking old beers - or wine in my case (I never stop working) ... It was a bit of heaven. Watch out for the wines of the Battling Bosworths. After that ... I don't remember much detail.

We ended up at the Salopian Inn with Steve, Hoops and my boys (Tom flew in from Sydney today). Did we talk of wine? You bet. But mostly we talked of people. Wine People. Unrepeatable maybe sometimes, affectionate almost always. The people is why I'm here and why 40 years has gone in a blinking moment. It's why the boys and Red 'Heads' and the 'Sheddists' are here. It's probably why anyone reading this is here reading it. It's late. Very late. Jetlag time. Must stop now. Tomorrow is the Big Party.

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36 hours of travel and airports and you stagger out, coughing, like a blind white mole into the dazzling Adelaide summer.

How I love this place!

There's lots to do in a week... Tons of work. However, first ... The Big Moment!

To McLaren Vale. Turn left off Kangarilla Road at our dear old RedHeads shed (now outgrown, the sign gone, leased to another keen new 'start-up'). No sadness though; go a few hundred yards up Foggo Road to the top of Chalk Hill, to ... the shiny all NEW RedHeads shed.

It's four times as big! It's so new! It's just 'this week'! The concrete isn't set yet, the electrician is still wiring. So not quite a winery yet. It's a 'site' still. But ... a site for sore eyes! Ho Ho. The old RedHeads sign is here. Even if its not been fixed on yet. The new fermenters are just being fork lifted through the door as we watch. Same as the old two ton, open tubs except now in stainless steel, not plastic. Nothing wrong with plastic but well, you have to try improve, always.

Grapes will be here in days ... or maybe hours! It looks like a superb vintage and it is VERY ripe. There's another smaller new shed with a new RedHeads sign actually up. That's the 'Cellar Door'. That's where you come to taste and drink eat and chat and chill out ... And there's Steve's offices, Steve's Jack Russel; Momo, and Steve's Black Berkshire pigs. And the same old RedHeads crowd, standing, waiting, with, as always, 'welcome home' cold beers. All looking speculatively at those pigs ... and that splendid man-dream of a barbie.

Adam 'Hoops' Hooper; chief winemaker, Nat McMurtrie, Phil 'Philbo' Christiansen, Big Andrew Pieri. Justin Lane who handed over running things to Steve Grimley, not here – has his own place about 200 yards away. The others all have their own shed wineries close by too. The ancient shack where Justin introduced me to 'shed winemaking' (as originated by Philbo) which kicked off the whole RedHeads thing in 2002 is even closer.

So everything has changed...yet nothing's changed.

RedHeads, which isn't really a winery, more an attitude, more a good wine-and-good mates way of life, is growing and spreading. But managing to keep its wild soul.

And just at this particular moment in my life I am so very, very glad to be here in the sun with Henry (and with Tom tomorrow) and my old friends. Lots and lots to do, yes. No rest.

But that's tomorrow. Light the barbie!

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Also at the get-together was Bernard Pueyo.

It was Andree first took me up to Embres et Castelmaure. It's the remotest wine village in the Corbières. It lies on the other side of from the mountain from Opoul in the Roussillon. (And there is a rough track just about navigable in a 4x4 between the two. Don't try it.)

Embres – pronounced 'ambress' in the local 'accent' (pron 'axanne') – was a poor village. And like many other such in the area seemed destined to die. The natives would leave and the houses fall into ruin or become holiday homes for Belgians.

Then along come two men. One a big hairy mountain winemaker called Bernard, the other an artist and romantic businessman called Patrick de Marien.

The former took over running the only enterprise in the village; the little wine co-operative, the latter became its President. Odd couple. But they determined the village would be saved by its wine, Which was - on account of the extreme conditions - always good.

But 'good' wasn't good enough. Cultivating the steep, schiste strewn vineyards was a hands-only job and they had to be tough old hands. Such a wine could not be cheaply made. It had to win a sufficiently good reputation so as to be able to sell at a viable price. They were the first winery I knew to map and classify every inch of their member's vineyards on computer (an early Apple).

They kept meticulous vintage records and slowly, painfully ... but annually ... improved. To my embarrassment - and shame - I turned down their great work - a wine called 'Pompadour' (After a local family). I said it would never sell; too expensive. I was wrong. It was generally reckoned to be the outstanding wine of yesterday's tasting. And, yes, our Midi buyer is smarter than me. We have it in stock.

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At Hong Kong airport for between flights I find my half-finished diary from just five days ago.

It seems a lifetime since. But I can't write about those days.

Here's where I was; "At yesterday's Midi growers get-together near Narbonne there were some older faces amongst all the bright young stars.

Not surprising. I came here first in '71. To meet a small group who were determined to rehabilitate the wines of the Midi.
 
Their leader was an outstanding Bordeaux-trained Oenologist; Henri Dubernet who had given up the soft life of Grand Médoc Estates for the impossibly difficult challenges in what he called French wine's 'Wild Frontier'; the vast, uncharted Midi.
 
(It's still relatively uncharted, and is still the world's largest wine region.)

His son; Marc, who is my age, came to our get together. I really admire Marc. He continues, with his own son, the work begun by his father. They run the most important 'Cabinet' in the area, consultants for so many of the top estates. And whether people employ them or not few would deny they are at the heart of the Midi wine revolution ... slow revolution, but revolution nonetheless.
 
Marc, like the others, is happy with the enormous strides in quality here, but when pressed confesses regret that the area has not yet reached its potential. "Le Probleme Midi" he and others argue is that the wine 'Progressives' (those striving to improve, experiment, create and keep up with non-stop developments in other wine countries, are still greatly outnumbered here by the "Industrials"; who would rather keep on churning out mega volume flavour-lite cheapo brands which they believe can stave off the New World wine onslaught on their markets.

"These people" says Marc "are deluded". So too are the Agriculture Ministres in Paris as they share the same view. Surprisingly, the correct view; that only a return to traditional careful, moderate farming, the Pursuit of Quality and educating the public, will save France's winegrowers is the one held today by Brussels. "Well, well" I say. "Miracles never cease". But Marc should know. Isn't anything to do with wine, here, he doesn't know.

There is, for us, a silver lining to this; all the wines of the Midi remain relatively cheap. Even the bloody good ones. And they ARE just so good, now.

I'm going to set up a blind tasting of our Midi wines alongside some famous and expensive Cru's from Bordeaux. The results will be very interesting. Won't be the first time wine thinking has been turned on its head.

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A Day by the Med

Horizontal snow, Tramontane blowing a super-gale at -6degC. The wind-chill was off the dial!! But a jolly good time had by all at Gerard Bertrand's warm place up on La Clape, overlooking the Med, near Narbonne.

We'd set up a big tasting-meet at L'Hospitalet with all our Midi suppliers and no weather was going to put anyone off.

Everyone - all 35 - turned up. Even the guy from Fitou who'd just cut off his thumb came (it is pruning time!) Midi people are hard men. And women. Gerard's assistant plays second row for France Feminin. Gerard himself played for France and captained Narbonne and Stade Francais in the old days.

I knew his Dad well. (Why do I always seem to be saying that these days?) Big Georges Bertrand supplied us the wine which - more than any other - caused the creation of The Sunday Times Wine Club - just so popular with readers. I've always owed Georges for that. Sad that we were in the middle of a row at the time of his tragic early death. But Gerard picked up where his father left off, fanatically promoting the Midi as the source of wines that equal any in France.

He is now the Midi's most successful producer, sells to 64 countries, and claims L'Hospitalet is the region's most visited estate. Go there! Google 'L'Hospitalet'. Has a nice hotel, restaurant 3000 barrels and 1000 hectares of wild hillside. But wait 'till the weather improves.

From Tony, snowbound on the A61. "That's the first time I've seen Carcassonne covered in snow."

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Words really did fail me yesterday. I was looking forward to getting a Railway Arch back.

Arch 36, Windsor Viaduct was where I lived for many years. There's something about Arches. Very SOLID arches. So yesterday I was really looking forward to seeing our new and much bigger Arch at Vinopolis near London Bridge Station, under the railway that runs into Cannon Street.

It had been open half an hour when I got there and was.... simply stunned! I'd seen the plans but wasn't expecting this! Felt faint! Luckily a glass of Champagne was immediately shoved in my hand. A lot of unsuspecting folk had that happen to them yesterday as the new staff led by veteran Eddie Lewis tried to make immediate friends with all Southwark.

Eddie, 10.30; "Already made two sales"!

A lovely customer from Norfolk immediately pinned me down with a volley of compliments about my wonderful staff. It's always the staff who get the compliments these days. I might as well retire!

But I can't now, not with this awesome emporium to go play in. Right between Borough Market, my food heaven and Vinopolis the great wine exhibition.

Laithwaites at Vinopolis features 'the longest tasting table in the world' - huge - and well over a thousand different wines. (Though we have three thousand in our cellars so that's no great deal, really).

Rob and Rhonda only took over the place four weeks ago, but they, our designer, his craftsmen, and The Team worked round the clock to be ready to open with about 5 mins to spare. Amazing what adrenalin can do!

This was what they call a 'soft launch' with no fanfare or publicity. Just so we can ensure it works properly before the Mayor comes and cuts the ribbon officially on Friday Feb 19th. And then on Saturday 20th we've got tastings and events all day, including a wine lucky dip with 500 bottles of wine, each for £5. The bottles include Lafite, Mouton, Cheval Blanc, Haut-Brion as well as some of our customers big favourites like Black Stump and Papavero. Every single one will be a great bottle!

But words got out already. On day one we sold more than we sold in any other of our ten shops. Promising!

We've lots to tweak and polish. There's a working winery going in there, with the great Jean-Marc himself, pumping over! That'll draw the ladies! And there's to be a bank of projectors and... Oh! I don't know what else.

That massive steel table will see some serious tasting sessions - our wine producer mates are falling over themselves to show their stuff here.

Later that day, heading north to Mother I read something Susan Hill had written in the Spectator about her favourite bookshop. A slight adaptation gave me; "A treasure house, with enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff, and nooks and crannies full of the unexpected, not the usual mass-market, heavily promoted stuff. Test of a good wine shop? You stay ages longer than you planned and come out with wines you'd never heard of but know you absolutely have to have - and you certainly never leave empty-handed."

Except, of course that we'll be able to deliver if you don’t want to carry your wine home. We can deliver to you anywhere next day at the moment but after the big opening, we'll be able to deliver anywhere within the M25 that same day. So, choose your wine and it can be there when you get home!

I'm going to pin that statement up in the office. Something to aim for.

There is going to be no better place on the planet to go buy wine than our new Arch.

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Just go see our new railway arch!

Laithwaites Wine at Vinopolis.

By Borough Market. London Bridge Station. Opened Today. Till 10 tonight.






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To London. The hotel at Paddington Station. Big meeting of all our far flung young wine 'family'. From Australia, Hong Kong, Connecticut, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and .... Theale!

The greatest thing about having a lot of small teams is how when they all come together and explain their different ways of doing things, it generates enormous energy. Like it's nuclear fission. Ideas ping around the room, collide, and ping, ping, ping, suddenly lots more new ideas... And it just goes on.

It's lunch day two and it's still going on. But I'm too exhausted to go on. Ideas are so exhausting. So I'll make my excuses and leave. But leave very happy.

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