Wine and food: it shouldn’t be too hard
It seemed such a civilised novelty to sit down in a boutique bottle shop for a glass of wine, some cheese and charcuterie in the south of France.
Five weeks and several European countries later, this wine, food and shop combination was ubiquitous. Yet, it seemed something so Adelaidian, a combination of beautiful, simple local produce and a glass of wine. Plus the option of taking home a bottle or two.
Unfortunately South Australia’s restrictive liquor licensing mean that this type of venue isn’t a possibility, with bottle shops like the East End Cellars needing an extra licence to provide free tastings, let alone sell a glass of wine with food.
There is some change underfoot with the State Government’s much-publicised small bar license and its proposal to let supermarkets sell wine from their shelves.
Foodland has promised to sell “boutique, local wine” but there would be no obligation, and the major supermarket chains are unlikely to follow suit.
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The wine bar/shops are symbolic of European culture. It’s expected that you will have something to eat, no matter how small, with your wine.
This is particularly true in Italy, where they’ll give you a small plate free with a glass or two of wine.
East End Cellars’ Angas Buchanan believes the barrier to this happening here is the binge drinking culture of Australia where being drunk is ‘promoted’ opposed to in Europe and Asia where it is frowned upon.
He thinks the recent liquor licencing reforms to allow small bars are a good step towards a better lifestyle and drinking culture, but much more needs to be done.
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“It’s the conservative nature of South Australian and the fact we don’t have a lot of new money or young money – we’ve got a lot of old money,” he says.
“It’s also the fact we have archaic liquor licensing laws which don’t allow people to play around with it.
“The idea they are trialling small bars – I don’t understand the concept of trialling. Wouldn’t it make sense to have small business rather than one big pokie-filled pub?”
Changes as simple as allowing more combinations of retail, food and wine, might help two ailing sectors.
“I can’t speak for the owner, but if it was my own business, definitely,” Buchanan says.
“Many years ago I went to this great place called Juveniles in Paris that was a tiny hole in the wall that was retail, it was food, it was everything.”
We do have great bars and pubs in Adelaide and there are young, and not so young, people trying to experiment and change within the restrictions.
It’s already making a huge difference to the night life of the city, but it shouldn’t stop within the square mile.
I returned from holiday happy to see the city lights of my home from the plane, with my head filled with stories of people I met sitting, sipping wine in these hole in the wall places, where it’s was normal to chat to everyone near you.
Freeing up the liquor licensing regime in this state will not be the one-step solution to all our troubles, but it will get South Australia, not just Adelaide, in line with the rest of the world and that will be a start.
Maybe then, tourists will go back to their home states and countries, reminiscing lyrically about the little South Australian wine shop, and the beautiful plate of olives or cheese they enjoyed with the excellent local wine.
