While we confess to a certain bias here, we believe that Sablet is truly one of the most charming villages in all of Provence. Its well-scrubbed streets, friendly inhabitants, pleasant cafés and two excellent bakeries - not to mention the round and plummy wines produced by the Côtes-du-Rhône vineyards that surround the village - have an inexhaustible charm that always makes Sablet a pleasure to revisit. Sablet's annual book fair in July draws authors from all over France, and in the summer concerts or theatrical events frequently take place in the church or village square. The village has just enough commerce to take care of daily needs (a post office, bank, grocery store, butcher, presse and the like), just enough antiquity to make it historically interesting, and sufficiently little cachet with travel book writers - at least so far - to keep it blissfully free of giant tour buses.

The Region

The countryside surrounding Sablet - a montage of fertile plains, sprawling vineyards and rugged mountains of the Dentelles de Montmirail - is among the most beautiful in France. But even with its peaceful and utterly serene country setting, urban centers with supermarkets and commerce are within easy reach, with Vaison-la-Romaine a drive of 15-20 minutes to the north, and Carpentras only slightly further to the south. Vaison (which has an amphitheater and a fascinating display of ruins from Roman times) and Carpentras also have weekly outdoor food markets that are among the most colorful in Provence. Orange, known for its annual festival of opera held every July in the Roman ampitheater, is less than a half-hour.

As every oenophile knows, the most famous crop of the Vaucluse Plateau is the full-bodied red wines of the Côtes-du-Rhône appellation and its specially designated villages. The village appellations include Cairanne, Rasteau, Séguret, Beaumes-de-Venise and, the most highly reputed of all the village wines, Sablet. The famed appellations of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras, only a few minutes away, have achieved special recognition, and attract serious wine lovers from all over the world.

As a glance at the Guide Gault-Millau or Michelin Guide Rouge will show, the immediate area around Sablet is noted for its rich variety of restaurants of all styles and price categories. La Table du Comtat, at Séguret (3 km), and Le Moulin à Huile, at Vaison-la-Romaine (13 km), both merit one star in the Michelin Guide Rouge. At the neighboring village of Gigondas (2 km) are Les Florets and L'Oustalet, two of Provence's finest restaurants for regional cuisine. Carpentras, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (30 km to the southwest) and Orange add another dozen or so quality tables to the list. And for lunch or a simple but flavorful dinner, in our view there is no better spot then the Café des Ramparts - on the village square in Sablet, a brief and pleasant stroll from Maison Désirée.