We expected cool and rainy weather for  what advised to be a perfect cold weather dish however the sun shone and it enticed some forty members into attending lunch with Bill Alexiou in the kitchen, Paul Irwin (our wine recorder) on wines, Ross MacDonald on cheese and Spencer Ferrier in charge of coffee.

Canapes were prepared by Peter Squires and Peter Manners and comprised a zuchinni and feta frittata as well as finely sliced lamb backstrap topped with a Greek version of babaganoush which has pomegranate seeds and yoghurt instead of tahini .There was also sliced boiled egg with a tapenade, the last on toasted bread that could have been crisper to complement the toppings. Accompanying them was the Pikes riesling 2006 drinking very well and still fresh under stelvin . The reliable Lustau sherry was also on offer this time.

The main course was a Greek "stifada", marinated beef cheek in a luscious sauce made on tomato carrot and flavour enhancers of cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves . Also on the plate was some risoni , little grains of pasta resembling rice in appearance . It was a meal of robust flavours and good texture. Served with it were a Burtons Limestone Ridge Merlot 2001 13.5% alc which showed good fruit and flavour; and a Warrenmang Estate Black Puma shiraz 2001 from the Pyreenes area of Victoria. At 15% it was a big wine, elegant and well balanced with dominant blackberry fruit.

.The cheese this week: a Tarago Shadows of Blue made from pasteurised cow's milk from Gippsland Victoria .It was a rich double cream blue vein cheese with a creamy flavour, a good aged example of the style with nutty and salty tastes on the palate. It was simply served with a salad of walnut, lettuce, rocket and pear. The accompanying wines were a 1999 Rosemount Estate Mountain Blue shiraz cabernet from Mudgee ( 14% alc) and 1999 Pirramimma Maclaren Vale Stocks Hill Shiraz(14% alc).The Mudgee wine was judged wine of the day by speakers: it was well balanced and flavoured with blackberry eucalyptus characters. The Pirrammma was well past its bed time, most bottles "dusty" with oxidised character and hard acid end palate.

The red wines were all under cork.

The coffee was made on beans from El Salvador, a sweet light coffee well matched to follow the cheese course