10 December 2024 Steve Sparkes

Food review by James Hill

Food

The last hurrah for 2024 with a Christmas-themed lunch with Foodmaster Steve Sparkes and his band of merry men Steve Liebeskind, Nick Reynolds, Bernard Leung and President Bill Alexiou-Hucker assisting in meal and canapés prep today.

Steve advised that lunch was a way of thanking all for the continuing support of our Society, those who cooked through the year and importantly our kitchen brigade.

Canapés

Steve Liebeskind - Bacon-wrapped veal, pork and pistachio terrine topped with relish on white bread toasts. Big favour depth in the terrine. Very moreish.

Bernard Leung - Siu Mai with pork and prawns. Steamed for 15 minutes and rested for 5 minutes so they don’t burn the mouth. Served with Siracha for those who want more punch, or sweet chilli for those who don’t. Did I hear that he raided his mum’s freezer? They were special.

Nick Reynolds - Lime marmalade, sour cream topped with prawns sitting on homemade mini sourdough crumpets on homemade mini sourdough crumpets. Great balance of flavours , delicious.

Main

A traditional meal of moist turkey breast off the bone with cranberry sauce.

Stuffed loin of pork with chestnuts and cranberry. It was aged in the fridge resulting in a perfect crackling when cooked.

The vegetables, served in bowls, cooked by Bill were al denté carrots in butter and honey, then peas, sprouts and bacon. Finally, Hasselback potatoes in duck fat.

Gravy to die for.

A great meal applauded and much appreciated by the members and guests today.

Thanks team.

*Hasselback potatoes get their name from the restaurant Hasselbacken in Stockholm, Sweden. Hasselback is the Swedish word for "hazel slope", as the restaurant was located near a thicket of hazel trees on a steep mountain. In 1953, student chef Leif Elison served the dish, and it was a hit.

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster Mark Bradford presented ‘Riverine Blue’ a cheese made from 100% buffalo’s milk. This strikingly white, creamy milk comes from a modest herd of Riverine Buffalo that graze nearby. After the curds are set, they are placed in moulds to drain before spending two months ripening in specially built maturation rooms overlooking Wilson’s Prom.
Riverine Blue is the first of its kind made in Australia and one of only a few buffalo milk blue cheeses made in the world. It has a complex savoury flavour and the smooth, firm texture. Blue-green ribbons provide pockets of delicious salty blue flavour within the porcelain paste.

The cheese was accompanied by pomegranate seeds, blanched almonds and biscuits that had some heat on the palate.

To finish our lunch Steve served a Christmas pudding with homemade vanilla ice cream, brandy cream sauce and marinated berries. The pudding started in October, fed with brandy, it was rich yet light and very tasty.

It was served with a well-aged Topaque, fresh from the Sparkes’ barrel! 

A tribute to Steve for a great lunch today and the year, he encouraged people to cook and they jumped in, with special mention to our three new cooks this year Johnathan Casson, Rob Guthrie and Julian Parmegiani.`

3 December 2024 Steve Liebeskind

Food review by James Hill

Food

Near full house today for a remembrance lunch for Society members.

In the kitchen was our well-regarded Chef Steve Liebeskind with assistance from David Simmonds.

Canapés

Kangaroo tartare on biscuits topped with parsley. The tartare was made with pepperberry, shallots cornichons, mustards and Worcestershire sauce.

Good flavour and texture, no one picked the roo as protein.

Next up a chicken schnitzel with a honey mustard sauce of mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, egg, sugar, mayo and honey served at room temperature. Who doesn’t love a snitty.

it was great.

Lastly, a cold spicy pumpkin and coconut milk soup made with roasted pumpkin and onion with Thai green curry paste, chicken stock and coconut milk.

Main

Coq au vin, a nod to Paul Ferman who always cooked chicken when chef of the day.

Chicken marylands marinated in pinot noir with bay leaves, thyme and onions for 24 hrs. It was served with a sauce of marinade and beef stock, mushrooms, bacon, onions and a buttery creamy mash!

The meal was accompanied by Asian slaw rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilli, cabbage, red and white, carrots, bean sprouts, onions, coriander and mint.

Comments from members reflected the quality of the lunch today.

Thanks Steve.

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster Mark Bradford presented two cheeses from Woolbye cheese located in the Sunshine Coast in QLD. Both cow’s milk cheeses

One a triple cream Brie style and the other a washed rind. We’ve had cheese from this producer before, very good quality easily mistaken as French origin.

Steve served this with iceberg lettuce, spinach and roasted red pepper salad, a tribute to Neville Baker and Ted Davis, who prepared it often.

It was good to be reminded about this salad, texture and flavour, simply presented.

In between courses, we paid tribute to those members that we lost during the year and gave them the celebration that was accorded today.

Paul Ferman Cellar Master 2012-2019

Terry Stapleton President 1987-1988, 2003-2004

Terry McDowell

Roger Prior

Ian Masters

Peter Squires

Steve Zantiotis

Members spoke with personal reminiscences of those passed with others calling from the floor with tributes and anecdotes.

Lunch was closed with a traditional toast of Green Chartreuse and port to the lives and contribution to our Society of those that had passed.

It was noted that among the members present today there were seven Past Presidents and our incumbent in the room today.

26 November 2024 James Tinslay

Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

The last wine lunch for 2024 was a full house and saw James Tinslay in the kitchen with his arm in a sling.  He was ably assisted by Keith Steele and David Madson as well as “Team REX”.  The wine offering was Italian themed, as was the main.

Canapes

Keith prepared two canapes.  We started with Gilda, a classic basque pinxtos comprising of a cornichon, two guindilla peppers, an anchovy fillet and a pitted green olive on a stick.  Keith pointed out it supposedly represents Rita Hayworth’s legs in the movie of the same name (it has not gone unnoticed that the said heroine was once married to a man named James Hill). Just the right amount of heat, and a good match with the champagne.

Keith also provided Mushroom Ragout tartlets, a short cut pastry case filled with a mushroom ragout made with mixed chopped mushrooms, onion and celery cooked in a mixture of red wine, Marsala and veggie stock.

Not to be outdone, David made delicious hot smoked salmon rillettes to kick off the lunch. They were made from hot smoked Tassie salmon, a large piece of poached salmon fillet and dill, chives, capers, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, lemon zest and juice.

The canapes were tasty and plentiful and worked well with the wines.

Main

James cooked lamb ragu today. Given the restricted use of his hand, he acknowledged the considerable help he received in chopping, particularly by Keith and James’ partner, and the boys in the kitchen.

We had some 10 kg of lamb shoulder of impressive quality, sourced by the REX kitchen.  The whole shoulders were cooked for 2.5 hours with a classic Italian soffritto of diced onions, carrots and celery.  During the cooking process, 1 kg of finely chopped speck, garlic, stock, 18 cans of tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, red wine and heavy cream found their way into the pan.  The pasta was fettucine, which was par cooked, iced and finished off later in the ragu sauce before serving. Wonderfully al dente and not as easy task to serve to some 50 people.  Instead of the “traditional” parmesan, James served over 1 kg of pecorino, finely machine grated a few days beforehand by Paesanella Food Emporium in Sydenham. The bread was a light rye from Cornucopia in Naremburn.

The ragu was a wonderful match for the Italian reds.

Cheese

Today’s cheese was Challerhocker, malty and sweet with a spicy finish, a truly modern cheese with a loyal new following. It was last served to the Society at the April mixed lunch.

The region of St Gallen is renowned for its Appenzeller production and in the late 90's, tightly controlled Swiss regulations limited creativity. When the regulations were relaxed, Master Cheesemaker Walter Räss, an Appenzeller maker, created a new cheese using rich, pure unpasteurised Jersey milk and a secret blend of wine, herbs and spices. He aged it for 8 long months, so he named it ‘Challerhocker’ meaning ‘sitting in a cellar.’   Washing the rind during maturation produces a robust, tacky rind and contributes to the nutty aroma of the dense, white paste.

James provided an assortment of nuts to accompany the cheese.

Wine

Our lunch today was an excellent lamb ragu by James Tinslay with some delicious pass-arounds with the pre-lunch wines. Those wines were the Bernard Bremont Champagne and a Nicola Bergaglio Gavi 2021 13%.  The bubbles were fine for me, but it was the Gavi that I could not wait to get my rookers around a glass. I have reviewed this wine before and really like it. Many thanks to Nick Reynolds for introducing this wine to our Society. I find the wine delicious, well balanced, great flavour with a fresh and crisp finish. A winner, the perfect wine for a pre-lunch drink. 

We then moved on to the red wines for our main. Our Wine Master had cobbled together 6 Italian reds from various growers and various years. Many thanks to Nick Reynolds for his efforts.  During the course of our lunch, I was beginning to feel that I was not the right person to be reviewing six Italian wines in a row. These wines are so different to our red wines that I find the gap in styles almost unbridgeable. After 50 years of drinking Australian red wines with their far bigger flavours, I now find many Italian wines, at least to my taste to be thin, tannic and acidic with little flavour. I know, I know, that these wines are "food” wines, but.... a dash of flavour would not go astray. These observations were evident to me in the first two wines the Luigi Pira Nebbiolo and the Massolino Barolo. For the above reasons, I found these wines disappointing. 

My flagging spirits were however revived by the excellent Chianti from Isole e Olena 2019 14.5%. A lovely wine, medium-bodied with lots of flavour, great with food or a standalone. My next favourite was the 2009 Marchese Antinori Brunello 14%. Lots of tannin and acid but blending in well to produce a balanced wine with a great mouthfeel and a clean satisfying finish. 

The final two wines, the Argiano Rosso Montalcino and the masked wine revealed to be a Girolamo Russo Rina Eta Rosso were enjoyable food wines but did little to excite. I found myself towards the end of the meal yearning for a glass of a Barossa Shiraz or a Margaret River Cabernet, just for a bit of flavour. Old habits die hard!

I fully accept that my taste buds may have been having an off day and that my palate needs to be taken off to a re-education camp, however, I always said I would report my honest opinion and there you have it! Fire at will! 

19 November 2024 Bill Alexiou Hucker and Voula Price

Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Full house for our mixed lunch today with our president Bill Alexiou-Hucker in the kitchen assisted by his friend Voula Price.

Canapés aplenty!

We never go home hungry when Bill cooks, and today was no exception.

A new interpretation of Spanakopita…made as a Frittata minus filo pastry… yum!

Smoked salmon with cream cheese on toasts or cucumber.

Keftedes (pork and beef mince grated with tomatoes onion and mint) and tzatziki.

But wait there’s more, entrees served alternatively.

Octopus terrine with Greek salad. The terrine was made with gelatine using a stock of tomatoes, carrot and celery. Very tender octopus.

Seared Scallops served on homemade taramasalata alongside pea and avocado salad.

Main

Modern Moussaka- all the ingredients usually seen in Moussaka just deconstructed!

Perfectly cooked rack of lamb that sat on a tasty tomato salsa, accompanied by grilled eggplant, chicory and a light potato mash.

Comments from the room reflected the appreciation of members and guests today for the quality and effort we saw in today’s meal.

‘Sas efcharisto’ Bill and Voula.

Dessert

We gave our Cheesemaster a day away from normal duties as we had a delicious tart made with Gorgonzola dolce, honey and pear on puffed pastry to finish our meal.

Koulouria (Greek Easter cakes) were served with our coffee.

Stephen Lake, son of Max Lake, was a guest of our Society today.

He wore an André Simon silver medal posthumously awarded to Max by the International Wine and Food Society.

Wine

A very healthy turnout 50+ enjoyed a fine lunch created by our own Greek MasterChef Bill Alexiou. We were indulged with a three-course meal complete with a printed menu!!  See the food report about Bill's excellent Greek-themed lunch. The aperitif wines were a Chardonnay and a French fizz, Henri Laurent NV. The Chardy was a Kumeu River Village, vintage 2022. I really enjoyed this wine, very easy drinking, balanced and full of stone fruit flavours with a clean finish. An excellent wine to enjoy with the delightful pass-arounds. This wine is extremely good value for a commercial style Chardonnay. The Fizz I thought was drinking well enough for what it was, an entry level Champagne at an entry level price I assume. I heard some grumbles around the room about the wine being either too sweet or too acidic, but let's get a grip here, we are having an inexpensive glass of bubbles and we get what we paid for. I thought the wine was quite reasonable for what it was, namely something to go with food and a drink that all the ladies seemed to enjoy.

We then moved on to the entree, a delightful Greek salad with cold octopus. Wonderful! The wine for this dish was one I had never seen before, a White Grenache from the Catalan region of Spain. Serra/Barcelo Aucala 2022 14%. Our Winemaster is keen on introducing us to wines most of us have not met before.  Overall impression, quite acceptable, a good food wine. Very restrained in terms of flavour, but mouth filling. The taste was hard to identify, with hints of citrus with a rich opulent finish.  I felt this wine is truly a food wine given its dry texture and subdued flavours.  It is well worth the venture into something untried before. 

For the main, we enjoyed a perfect rack of lamb which was partnered up with a Hentley Farm Grenache 2022 14.5%. This highly respected vineyard produces some beautiful red wines from its Barossa vineyards, this wine was a classic modern style Grenache, light in structure, high alcohol and an exploding mouth feel of sweet strawberry, with lots of tannin and peppery spice. The wine was a perfect foil for the lamb. A real food wine, not one to be mulled over and over and analysed, just drink it, enjoy it for what it is, a youthful wine, full of joy and exotic flavours, a real fruit bomb! 

The dessert consisted of a fabulous blue cheese, Gorgonzola, and pear flan, cooked in the oven and served. Simply wonderful. We were really indulged today, we never get dessert, must be the influence of the ladies. To go with the dessert, we had two Sauternes Ch La Rame 2011 13% and a Ch Miselle 2017 13.5%. Both were perfect with the sweet dish as a good sauterne would be. Of the two I preferred the Ch La Rame, superb drinking now and for many more years.  Great balance, lush flavours, superb finish that lingered. A wonderful wine. The Miselle I thought was being drunk too soon, only 6 yo. Needs more bottle age, as the structures are all there for a great wine when a few more years will see it round out. At the moment it just does not have the intensity of the much older La Rame. 

All around a great afternoon, many thanks to all who made it happen with such style. 

12 November 2024 Steve Sparkes

Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

There’s no better place to be on a Tuesday than enjoying lunch in our Society rooms especially when we have our dynamic duo of Nick Reynolds on canapés and Steve Sparkes, our Foodmaster, on main.

Canapés

Nick’s appetisers for lunch today were:
Tapenade-filled gougères with parmesan.
Sourdough crumpets with lime marmalade, sour cream and chorizo.
Tartlets with Mediterranean-flavoured white bean purée, nduja and chives.

Main

An exquisitely rich meal today of hearty oxtail stuffed with boudin blanc, creamed cabbage and a buttery mash.

Steve used fourteen kilos of oxtail to make the ‘sausage’ and a stock to make the gravy. The boudin blanc was made with chicken breast, white bread and foie gras. The recipe is by a British Michelin-starred chef Steve Crane of Sussex.

The meal certainly had that ‘wow’ effect.

High praise for all aspects of our lunch today reflecting the quality presentation and flavours. A lot of effort was involved with all the dishes today.

Thanks, team, first class!

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster Mark Bradford selected a cow’s milk cheddar from Devon England for lunch today.
Mature, clothbound Farmhouse Cheddar made the old–fashioned way is hard to find, and demand is greater than supply. This rare farmhouse Cheddar has been carefully graded from a young age and matured for 18-24 months. The result is a classic Cheddar bursting with evocative flavours, with a firm, open and moist texture, an aging earthy aroma, and a lingering tang.

Steve accompanied the cheese with a homemade fig, pomegranate jam, and a salad composée.

Wine

The highlight of today's lunch was a truly excellent dish of ox tail, done in a style that only our wonderful Foodmaster Steve Sparkes could create. Brilliant! See the food report and photos for more details of this sensational presentation. 

To accompany the main, we also enjoyed some very tasty pass arounds prepared by Nick Reynolds, which paired very well with the aperitif wine, a Soave from Monte Ronca from the Veneto region of northeast Italy. Vintage 2020 and 12.5%. This is a very popular wine in Italy, quite dry, clear and crisp with good acidity and a slight hint of apple and pear on the palate. Made mainly from the Garganega grape coupled with a dash of Trebbiano. Restrained, but very enjoyable with food.

We then moved on to the red wines for our main course. They were the John Duval Plexus 2014 and the Helen's Hill Shiraz 2021. The Plexus was a Barossa wine composed of a blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvèdre, 14.5% a wonderful wine, my pick of the day. Readers of my notes on our wines will be aware of my great respect for Duval as a winemaker, one of our greatest. The wine was in my view a glorious cocktail of red wine flavours with the Grenache standing out. Medium weight, rich and voluptuous, hints of dark cherry with excellent balance between the oak and tannin. A firm finish. Now a ten-year-old, but with many years of fine drinking ahead. The second wine was the Helen's Hill Shiraz from the Yarra Valley, 14.8%. A very enjoyable wine, but I think drinking a few years too soon. This wine was to me a classic Shiraz, peppery, medium body, noticeable tannin present with residual spice on the palate. I would like to drink this wine again in say 5 years when it has rounded out a bit more. 

The wines with the cheese were a Chardonnay and a St Hugo Cabernet which in my view, was nearly as enjoyable as the Duval wine. The Chardy was a Larry Cherubino Folklore 13% from WA. The St Hugo was a 2001 Cabernet from Coonawarra 14%. The Chardy was a big wine, mouth-filling and rich. There was lots of citrus flavours grapefruit, and peach. The texture was creamy and soft, with a clean finish. I am aware that the pairing of cheese with a Chardy is regarded by some as a much better combination than cheese and red wine. I personally think that suggestion could be correct in so far as soft cheese, eg a brie with a Chardy would work. But I do not agree that the combination works with a hard cheese like we had today. The Devon cheddar was to me far too sharp for the white wine but went well with the St Hugo. The St Hugo was a multi-award winner, for good reason. A terrific wine with huge berry fruit nose, a big colour, dark and intense. Redolent aromas of blackcurrant and plumb with earthy spice are still present despite the wine now being 23 yo. There was great balance between oak, tannin and acid. Just pipped at the post by the Duval Plexus for the wine of the day.

29 October 2024 Charles "Chilly" Hargrave

Wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Wine

We had a very healthy turnout for today's lunch, which included salmon by Chilly Hargrave and a parade of Rieslings from Australia and Germany. Overall, the food and wine pairing were a great success. See the food report for details. 

We got festivities underway with two Chardonnays, one from Margaret River and the other from France a White Burgundy. The first was a Suckfizzle, be careful how you say this, from Stella Bella 2021 and the French wine was from Albert Bichot, a Macon Milly 2020. Both these wines were quite acceptable as an aperitif drink, however, my choice was the French wine, better balanced and with a more delicate flavour. We then moved on to the wines for our lunch. First was a Grosset Polish Hill, Clare, Riesling 2024, 12.1%. Without a doubt, it is the youngest wine we have ever drank at a WFS lunch. To my thinking, the wine was difficult to drink now, but I hold great hopes for its future. All of the key structures were in place to produce a cracker in 5/6 years' time. An ugly duckling now, but just wait until about 2030! This wine has huge potential.  We then passed onto a bracket of excellent German Rieslings from the renowned producers Johannisberg and Egon Muller. The first two were both from 2021, 11% and 13%, with the Egon Muller considerably older at 2010, 9.5%. 

In my view, all three wines were excellent in their balance of fruit, acid and residual sugar. Mouth-filling for sure, but not cloying and finishing with a smooth clean finish. Of the first two, I rather fancied the first, the Kabinett.  These two wines set the stage for the star of the show, the Egon Muller 9.5%, what a wine! This producer is hailed as one of Germany's finest in the production of high quality Rieslings. From the Mosel River region, this wine was simply superb in terms of its fruit/acid balance, showing no sign of age, still fresh and showing some delicate citrus flavours in harmony with the slightly sweetish but clean lingering finish. A magnificent wine! Many thanks, Wine Master.   Before I leave the German wines, I should say how impressed I was with their corks. I was on wine opening duties. All three were under cork, and I observed how solid their corks were, in most cases the same length size cork you would find in a top growth Bordeaux.  These corks were made to last for decades. After this brief stopover in Germany, we then returned to Australia to finish the afternoon with some aged local Rieslings. I wish we had not, I was quite happy to stay in the Mosel region!  Coming home proved to be a sad affair.

Our homecoming welcome was a huge letdown in the form of two bottles of one of my favourite local Rieslings, the Seppelt Drumborg, vintages 2007 and 1998.  If you were addressing these wines as an ageing old girlfriend, you would think to yourself, "my darling how you have let yourself go". The 2007 still had some signs of life sealed under Stelvin but is drinking 10 years beyond its best date say 2014. The poor old 98, cork sealed, had probably died and was buried in or about 2010, and was exhumed for this occasion, the Festival of Rieslings, I wish it had been left undisturbed. The bottle on our table was to me undrinkable, oxidised, maderized and nasty.  Because I personally regard Drumborg Rieslings amongst my top picks for this wine, it proved to be a disappointing ending to an otherwise great afternoon. 

22 October 2024 Keith Steele

Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Keith Steele as Chef of the Day got the band back together for his lunch and was assisted by Paul Thorne, David Madson and James Tinslay on canapés.

We celebrated John Rourke’s 85th birthday and his 51st year of membership. John donated two magnums of Lakes Folly and President Bill had invited Stephen Lake along who happened to bring with him a double magnum.

We welcomed a new member to our society today, Chris Wills, and he was presented with a Society bow tie, our history “A Table of Delights” and a Society badge by our president Bill Alexiou.

Canapés

Paul Thorne topped some blinis with white anchovies, sour cream, roasted capers and sashimi grade salmon for those of us that don’t like the acid in the anchovies.

David Madson prepared some smoked trout pâte with home pickled baby cucumber on toasts.

James Tinslay, in theme, made Moroccan sausage rolls with homemade Moroccan tomato sauce and then moist tamarind chicken skewers with homemade chutney.

Plentiful canapés, well commented on by members.

Main

Braised lamb shanks with a Moroccan sauce of stock, celery, carrot, onions and tomato paste. The sauce was reduced and cooked with the lamb shanks.  The meat fell of the bone perfectly cooked with a last addition of chick peas. It sat on silky buttery potato mash perfect to sop the luxurious sauce.

Much praise for the dish today.

Stellar effort chaps, thanks.

Bread today was from Cornucopia at Naremburn a light rye.

Cheese

Keith’s favourite ‘Beaufort’, a raw cow’s milk cheese from the Pyrenees, France.

Famous since Roman times, this huge 40kg cheese is often referred to as the Prince of Gruyere.

Made by Fruiteries Chabert, this family business specialises in cheeses of the Hautes Savoie where the cows are moved to mountain pastures during the summer. Beaufort AOP d’Alpage is only made from raw milk in alpine chalets at more than 1500m, with the milk of a single herd.

This smooth textured cheese has a distinctive concave shape and natural rind. The sweet, nutty, floral flavours highlight the name Alpage reflecting the alpine grass and wildflowers which the cows eat on the high mountain slopes.

Bowls of dried apricot and walnuts accompanied the cheese.

Wine

The theme for today was lamb shanks by Keith Steele. In a word excellent. See food report. The Wine report for today centres upon three magnificent bottles of Lakes Folly Cabernets, very generously donated by John Rourke on his 85th birthday. We started off the day with a Margaret River Chardonnay from Nocturne Wines 2021 13%. This wine took me back to the 80s style Chardy, big blousy, over oaked and just about over everything else. The first sip nearly blew my head off. I have become far too used to the modern style of Chardy, restrained and tight, less oak and less alcohol, and not as sweet as was the Nocturne. This wine was truly Atavistic in its regression to the 1980s but I did not enjoy it. 

Next wine was a Stella Bella Cabernet again from WA. 13%. A big wine, huge fruit and lots of oak and tannin. The wine was an acceptable commercial Cab, but I think it was being drunk a bit too soon. Another few years in the cellar would knock the rough edges off and produce a better result. 

The next bracket of wines was the Lakes Folly Cabernets, two in Magnum (donated by John Rourke) and one in a Jeroboam (donated by Stephen Lake, Max’s son). The vintages ranged from 1985 to 1996. What a treat, thank you guys. All the wines were in great shape and drinking beautifully. All the wines were Cabernet blends and mid-weight with mostly low alcohol, between 12 and 13%, very Bordeaux like. The wines were now quite old, ranging in age from 28 to 39 years old. But in my view, all drinking superbly with no sign of adverse ageing. My pick was the 85, a glorious, aged wine, still in perfect balance. At my table, however, there were many votes for the 1991. Either way, they were all superb. How fortunate were we! There was some talk at my table about one or two of the wines having a trace of ‘brett’, otherwise formally known as brettanomyces, a non-spore forming genus of yeast. So now you know. It is a member of the saccharomycetaceae family. Around our dinner table at home, we discuss little else! Any how this substance which developed during the maturation of wine can in small amounts produce an agreeable flavour, e.g. the ‘sweaty saddle’ of some Hunter reds, but in larger amounts can ruin a wine. If brett was there in some of these wines, it for certain was in very modest amounts. Summary, how fortunate were we! 

The next wine was a Frankland Ridge Syrah 2020 14.5%. A big wine dense purple/black colour with tannin and oak showing. Again, I thought this wine would benefit from more cellar life. All the material is there for a pleasing commercial Syrah in a few years’ time.  

That now brings us to the final wine of the day, another Chardonnay.  This time an American from California, the Wente vineyard Morning Fog Chardy from 2022 13.5%. Today has not been a good day for the famous Chardonnay grape. As with the first wine this one was too big, oaky, alcohol driven and with a sweetness that the Americans seem to demand in most of their wines.  I would be pleased not to come across this wine again. I just cannot go back to this style of Chardonnay again. But to end on a high note, the Lakes Folly was sensational, you are a good man, John Rourke.

15 October 2024 Julian Parmegiani

Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Responding to his “call to the kitchen”, Tuesday saw first-time chef of the day Dr Julian Parmegiani preparing, not surprisingly, an Italian-themed lunch.  He was assisted by members Rob Guthrie and Paul Mitchell with canapes, and friend Jordan in the kitchen along with the REX team.

Canapes

Rob’s first offering was a goat’s curd tartlet.  The filling was a combination of goat’s curd and ricotta with mint, topped with finely sliced zucchini and zucchini flowers marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little chilli oil.  Dressed with crushed pistachios and micro herbs, this was a colourful and tasty way to commence our lunch.

Next up was Rob’s polenta croutons with sausage and mushrooms. These were a thin spread of nduja sausage atop polenta croutons, with mushrooms fried off in oil and garlic.  The meat – no skin – was from a pork and fennel sausage, with a slice of Fontina cheese and baked for 10 – 15 minutes. Rob explained that nduja is a spreadable, delightfully spicy sausage from the southern part of Calabria, characterised by its flaming red hue thanks to the region’s native Calabrian red chillies.

We ended the canape course with Paul’s Caprese skewers.  These were Mozzarella balls tossed in olive oil, garlic powder and kosher salt, then an Italian mix of oregano, basil, capsicum, rosemary, parsley and time; refrigerated overnight.  Then skewered along with cherry tomatoes, tossed in the same Italian mix, and basil leaves.  Drizzled with balsamic before serving.

Thank you, Rob and Paul. Lots of effort went into the canapes today, which were aplenty.

Main

Julian served us pasta with fennel pork sausage ragu.  The fettuccini was hand made using flour (80% durum and 20% plain), eggs and water – the magic of a Philips Pasta Maker extruding the fettuccini in a mere three minutes. Then sprinkled with flour and stored in a sealed container separated by tea towels.

The soffritto was made with garlic, celery, carrots and onion, boiled off with red wine. Large fennel pork sausages were broken into small clumps and browned, mixed with the soffritto and Mutti Polpa Pronta tinned tomatoes, a pinch of chilli and simmered for two hours.  Fried prosciutto cut into small strips was used to make the fettuccini crunchy.

The pasta was cooked in boiling water for two minutes and then in some ragu for two to three minutes to emulsify.  The dish came to the table with the pasta on a bed of ragu, more ragu on top, parmesan and fresh basil, with chilli on the side.  The pasta was a little “al dente”, authentic to a rustic Italian meal.  Jordan prepared a side of salad with a delicious acidic dressing that was a perfect accompaniment to the protein.

A good hearty authentic Italian dish.  Congratulations Julian on your first Society meal and may there be many more to come.

Cheese

In theme, the Cheesemaster presented Auricchio Provolone Dolce, a hard cow’s milk cheese from Lombardy.  This pasta filata, or stretched curd cheese, is kneaded and stretched while still hot and pliable, before being hand-formed into massive sausage-shaped rolls known as ‘salame’ Auricchio Provolone is made in the Po Valley in Northern Italy using fresh milk from surrounding farms.  Handcrafting ensures a compact texture and prevents folds from forming in the curd which might trap air and compromise quality during the slow maturation process. Once formed, the salame are brined for more than a week before maturation.  The resulting cheese has a soft, compact texture with bright milky flavours and excellent melting properties.

The cheese was accompanied with figs, muscatels, quince paste and walnuts.

During the cheese course we arose to a toast proposed by the President for long-time Member and former Cellarmaster Paul Ferman, who sadly passed away in hospital on the previous Saturday.

Wine

The report for today will be my shortest ever as we all enjoyed only one wine, the Wynns Coonawarra Cab 2006. This was as a result of the appointed wines for today not being ordered, a real test for our Wine Master.  

We ended up drinking a number of wines, all of which were very enjoyable, but the Wynns was the only one that everybody tasted. The wine itself was excellent and travelling very well for an 18 yo. The vintage of 2006 was highly regarded by Wynns and the quality of the year was reflected in the wine. A strongly flavoured wine, dense purple/black fruit with classic Cabernet taste at 14%. It showed very firm tannin and oak on the back palate, a classic Coonawarra. This wine never fails to impress, hence a WFS favourite. The wine had plenty of acid to ensure many years of good drinking ahead. I would like to review it again in 5 years. 

1 October 2024 James Hill and Hal Epstein

Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

A special Oktoberfest lunch today, inspired by Hal Epstein, the departure from the usual routine being applauded by the gents on the day.  Lederhosen was not obligatory, and none were worn. The ever-reliable former present James Hill was in the Küche performing his magic.

Canapés

We commenced with freshly baked pretzels and rye bread from the “German Bakery” Laugenring in the MetCentre at Wynyard Station, a good way to wash down our German beer.

Hal provided canapes aplenty, covering a variety of German-style sausages both grilled and boiled, available locally.  In Hal’s words, “Curry Wurst seems to be a developed German vogue favoured in Berlin: bratwurst with a piquant sauce, basically tomato sauce with a bit of chilli added.  Today, currywurst is often sold as a take-out or take-away food, Schnellimbisse (snack stands), at diners or ‘greasy spoons’, on children's menus in restaurants, or as a street food and usually served with chips or bread rolls (Brötchen).  It is popular all over Germany but especially in the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhr Area. Considerable variation, both in the type of sausage used and the ingredients of the sauce, occurs between these areas”.

Next was Liverwurst pâté and sauerkraut on “Fritz” biscuits. Wurst…Hal insisted on the lunchers getting the “wurst” pronunciation somewhat near “richtig” or correct, i.e. something like “Vurst”!

And then the best of the Wurst did the rounds. Bratwurst (pork) grilled with curry ketchup. Nurnburger (pork) grilled with mild German mustard. Kransky (pork) boiled with sweet Bavarian mustard. Weisswurst (veal and pork) boiled with curry ketchup. Treasurer Steve Libeskind asked why we prepare fancy appetisers when we can be filled with Wurst.  A brisk walk to Circular Quay and back would have been welcomed before commencing the main. Hal provided a useful addition with carefully hand-printed labels for each dish on the hand-around plates.

Main

James cooked us braised pork neck with brandy mash, cabbage and sauerkraut.

The seasoned rolled whole neck pork was cooked with brown sugar and wholegrain mustard flamed with brandy.  It was then simmered in parsley, sage and chicken stock for two hours at 150 C, then removed from the simmering sauce and cooked for 40 minutes at 170 C.  It was then rested for an hour while the sauce was reduced by half and prunes were added.  The sauce was served over the pork.
It was accompanied with confit garlic mashed potatoes (45 minutes in vegetable oil), sauerkraut and choux flamande – red cabbage cooked for 75 minutes in water, cider vinegar, butter, brown sugar and Granny Smith apples.

A great meal applauded by the members and guests on the day.

Cheese

The Cheese Master had difficulty sourcing a suitable German cheese, so he opted for a Firstkönig mountain cheese selected by KäseSwiss and thought to be a first for the Society.  It is named after the Churfirsten mountain range that dominates the Toggenburg region in the northeast of Switzerland and appears on the label that crowns the cheese wheel.  The cheese was thought to be a good match for the two Rieslings today; a rarity to experience two white wines with the cheese course.

Reto Güntensberg combines his family’s expertise in Appenzeller production at Butschwil Dairy with traditional cheese cultures to bring a modern approach to Swiss cheesemaking.  Unlike Appenzeller, this bergkäse – or mountain cheese – is made from whole unpasteurised milk.  Over the three months of maturation, the wheel is lightly washed in brine to encourage the development of a bacterial rind.  When fully mature, an amber-coloured rind surrounds a dense paste that yields a creamy and herbaceous flavour and delicate spicy finish.

James accompanied the cheese with seasonal berries – strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.  A good selection and well-liked.

Wine

Today the German festivities of Octoberfest landed at the REX for the enjoyment of WFS members, and enjoy we did. German wine and beer together with a superb roast pork neck presented by one of our top chefs, James Hill. See the food report for details.

We kicked off with a delightful German Beer Geheimnis, very enjoyable as a lead into our first German white a 2017 Wittmann Trocken Rhinehessen Riesling 12%. Now at 7 years of bottle age, this wine was drinking beautifully. Great aroma, medium texture, pale yellow with excellent balance between fruit and acid. Typically, Mosel style, mouth filling, but with a clean, clear crisp finish. A perfect wine for the delicious pass arounds. I hope we have some more of this.  

We began the luncheon wines with a Daniel Bouland Corcelette Morgon 2021. 13%. This sadly was not an enjoyable wine, a bad bottle I suspect, as I have at home several bottles of this wine and they are drinking very well. I found the wine initially acceptable, but as I drank on, the wine began to show some unpleasant features. Unbalanced, flabby and maybe some cork taint. This made for considerable disappointment as normally a high quality Morgon such as this is much in demand due to its velvety smooth, yet powerful Gamay flavours. Normally a serious wine. A pity.

The second red was a Freycinet Pinot from Tasmania 2020 14%. A delightful wine with a medium pinot structure with abundant fruit. Hints of raspberry and cherry were there. A nice balance between oak, some fine tannin and acid produced a wine of silky texture with a lingering finish. Plenty of time ahead. Great wine with the pork.

The two cheese wines were both excellent. First a Egon Muller Scharzhof Mosel Riesling 2013 10.5%. A wonderful aroma of quality fruit in true Mosel tradition. Pale green colour, ripe and intense with hints of apple and lime. Probably drinking at its peak, but with plenty of good years ahead. A top quality Mosel Riesling with a delightful finish, alluring and very Moorish. The final wine of the day was another Riesling, the famous Dr Loosen Mosel Kabinett 2017, 8%. Again, a wonderful example of top quality German Riesling, nobody else can produce wines quite like these.  Makes you wonder why there has been such a dramatic fall off in sales of German wines in Australia since the 1970s. These wines are quite special and deserve recognition for their unique qualities.  This wine was again filled with abundant citrus-flavoured fruits, great acid/fruit balance with a crisp non cloying finish. Of the two I slightly preferred the 2013 Ergon Muller, but there was nothing in it.

Either of these two wines would be the perfect companion in your luncheon basket to some ripe peaches, on a sunny afternoon beside a stream with a Fraulein of your heart’s desire. Bliss, but don’t forget the Aerogard!!

24 September 2024 Steve Sparkes

Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Our Foodmaster Steve Sparkes was in the kitchen for our monthly wine tasting.

Canapes

Good mix of canapés today all happily devoured by members. One member said the best canapés ever!

• Tuna Pâté

This one consisted of a tin of tuna in oil, anchovies, shallots and onion sauteed until golden, a decent slug of Sherry, bay leaf, and tarragon as well as a good whack of butter and seasoning. All blended together at high speed for 5-10 mins (without bay leaves!!) and served on a tomato and basil cracker.

This was a favourite, and many requested the recipe. It was parfait-like in texture with perfectly integrated rich flavours.

• Duck Rillette

Confit of duck maryland shredded with a blend of herbs, some duck fat and duck stock. Served on toasted baguette.

• Fig and Prosciutto

The third canape was a halved fig stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto and baked in a hot oven for 10 mins.  It was then cooled and drizzled with honey, balsamic vinegar and black pepper prior to serving.

Main

A lot of preparation in today’s main, It looked simple “meat and two veg” but what grabbed us first was the presentation, the glaze on the duck and the silky mash. The dish was a great bridge to the wines on taste today.

Confit of Duck

The duck marylands were 'dry marinated' with some garlic, thyme, onion, carrot, tarragon, orange rind, black peppercorns, allspice berries, crushed juniper berries, fennel seeds, star anise, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds overnight.

It was then cooked sous-vide at 75C for about 12 hours and then laid out on trays in its own fat in the fridge overnight.

On the day, the duck was flashed in a hot oven for a few minutes and then painted with a glaze for a few more minutes until crispy and shiny just prior to service. The glaze consisted of brown sugar, sherry vinegar and some marmalade.

The duck was served with a basic mash and green beans dressed with EVOO, raspberry vinegar as well as some toasted almond flakes for a bit of crunch.

The sauce/jus/gravy was a bottle of red heavily reduced with a decent amount of Creme de Cassis liqueur and a lot of diced shallots. A couple of litres or so of intense chicken and duck stock was added and reduced to the required consistency. 

Comments reflected the quality of the lunch today.

Thanks Steve.

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster Mark Bradford managed to secure some Pyengana reserve vintage cloth-bound cheddar.

A cow’s milk from Tasmania, it’s handcrafted from a 130-year-old recipe unique to Pyengana and matured in traditional cheese cloth for 24 months.

A great example of this cheese today, crumbly, bold, bitey and some crystals.

So good, Patto pocketed his leftovers!

The cheese was accompanied by a simple salad of mixed leaves dressed in red wine vinegar and olive oil with some added toasted almonds and a rather intense beetroot jam.

The bread was the standard large sourdough loaf from Bourke Street Bakery in Newtown. 

Wine

A splendid lunch delivered via the skills of one of our multi-talented chefs Steve Sparkes. Le Canard was the dish, for those not familiar with French, Duck. A brilliant main, with some superb pass-arounds. See the Food report for more details. With regard to the wines, our stand-in Wine Master Paul Irwin, had selected for us an array of our finest Australian reds, for our considered opinion, ranging from a 1990 Yarra Yering Dry Red No 1 to a 2012 Penfolds Bin 389, and plenty of goodies in between. So, let's get started.

The aperitif wine was an aged Lindemans Bin 0555 Sem from the Hunter Vintage 2005 12%. Sealed under screw cap the wine was in great presentation, clear, no browning or deep yellow colour you would expect from a 19 yo white. That is where the praise stops with the first bottle opened. I could almost not drink it, such was the overpowering acidity of the wine. It killed any further assessment of the wine. You would think that after 19 years the acid would be falling away, but not with this baby, getting more acidic as time progresses. However, redemption was at hand with a second or third bottle, which were totally different, and highly enjoyable, as you would expect from a top Hunter Sem from a great year. Talk about bottle variation. Under Stelvin you would think this would not happen, but it did today. I was stunned by the difference between the two bottles I tasted. The “Good” bottles saved the day, delightful, fresh, well-balanced Hunter Sem.

The main/cheese wines were from any objective viewpoint, a cavalcade of great Australian wines of the last 25 years. Read on gentle reader and let me guide you through this cornucopia of our best and fairest First off was a crowd favourite the Penfolds Bin 389 14.5%. Let me put my cards on the table for a moment. We had three Bin 389 today so when I say the wine was in the Penfolds style/formula, tannin, oak and alcohol, you will know what I mean. Their red wines never vary from this format. Very predictable, but you know what you’re getting. This wine was the 2012, very highly regarded by Penfolds. Very dark fruit colour, with hints of mulberry and blackberry. Great balance between oak, tannin and acid producing a firm finish. I would not call this wine “elegant” as it is too muscular at present. Perhaps it may achieve this description when Penfolds says it will achieve its full potential in 2040! If anybody has at that stage some connection with the afterlife, please let me know if Penfolds are correct!

Red wine No 2 was the 2012 Lindemans Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cab.14%. My pick of the litter. Lighter in structure than any of the Penfolds wines, this was a beauty. The brilliant clear colour of cherry red, elegant yet powerful, balanced with some mild oak and tannin showing, leading to a drawn-out sweetish fruit-driven finish. I picked up hints of chocolate and blackberry. A really enjoyable drink.

Wine 3 was another 389 2002 14%. I rated this wine above the 2012. The usual Penfolds style, but in my view better than the 2012 above. Perhaps the 2012 needed more time, as with this wine we had ten extra years of maturity and development. 54/46% split of Cab and Shiraz 14%. Very strong flavours of dark fruits, but combining well with the tannin, oak and residual acid to produce a beautifully balanced wine, dare I say a classic 389 with predictions by Penfolds to drink well until 2045!

Wine 4 the Hardys Eileen Shiraz 2002 14%, was to my taste a somewhat sad wine, at least in so far as the bottle on our table was concerned. Maybe there were other bottles in the room that fared better. The colour was still black/purple but the acid had fallen away to a considerable extent, leaving the wine, to my palate, dull and flabby. Perhaps 22 years is just too long for this wine,10 years would have produced a better outcome for this well-regarded wine.

Wine 5 was another 389 this time a very old one, 1991 13.5%. Drinking very well in the Penfolds style. Strong tannin and oak. This wine to me was a different 389 to the earlier bottles probably because it was 11 years older than the 2002 we had beforehand. It had the usual mix of black fruits and cherry flavours. Despite its age, the wine drank very well.

The final wine, the famed Yarra Yering Dry Red No 1 from 1990 was to many the wine of the day at 13%. A Cabernet blend of assorted French Cabernets and a dash of Malbec. I think it is fair to say this wine has achieved cult-like status amongst keen Australian wine lovers. At 24 yo the wine still had plenty of time left, no obvious ageing. Superb palate, rich and complex, with a firm finish. All round a great wine doing credit to its reputation. Near perfect balance, great length. Justly regarded by many as the wine of the day.