Easter being a busy time for many Society members our numbers were a little reduced. Those who missed this wine lunch by Paul Thorne and well assisted by our Foodmaster Nick Reynolds should be kicking themselves over their loss.

A summary:

Canapes. Nick presented us with two canapes, arancini balls and then white anchovies with tapenade on a toasted round of sourdough bread. The arancini had at its centre beautifully warm but not tongue burning mozzarella which with some skill could be stretched between your teeth and a fully extended hand. Skill being absent it ended up on your shirt. The high quality white anchovies were served on a base of piquillo peppers, garlic and olive oil. Very tasty.

Aperitif wines. Paul Ferman, our master of the wine lunch today, selected a Salomon Undhof Wachtberg Kremstal Grüner Veltliner 2011 which was much liked. It had an intense palate with some white pepper and a long finish. It should live for many years. Out trusty friend Lustau Fino accompanied the canapes for those of that persuasion.

Main course. Paul’s slow cooked pork neck in a pea and ham soup was a delight. The black pudding was a sensational crown on this meal. As our Chef of the Day said, a non-offensive meal for a wine lunch. That undersells the deep flavours of the meal but it did not interfere with the wines.

The wines. Our Cellar Master used our cellar to provide a comparison of three Northern Rhone reds (predominately syrah) with three Australian shiraz. All were from the 2011 vintage. In order these were:

* Cuilleron St Joseph Les Pierres Seches

* Lindemans HV Reserve Bin 1100 Shiraz

* By Farr Shiraz

* David Reynaud Crozes Hermitage

* Gilles Robin Crozes Hermitage

* Lowe Mudgee Blue Shiraz Cabernet

Members were unafraid to stand and give their views on the wines especially the Lowe wine with grapes from the vineyard previously going into Rosemount Mountain Blue. There was no one wine that had unanimous support but the selection was much liked as was the underlying theme. The general higher sweetness of the Australian wines was noted. Well done Paul.

Our new Cheesemaster, James Healey, presented Mauri Gorgonzola Piccante from the Lombardy region. After numerous comments and guesses the cheese selection was a “skinner”. No one identified Italy. James Hill sourced the bread from his local Iggy’s bakery, possibly Sydney’s best bread. As it was Peter Manner’s birthday he provided us with some wonderfully silky Cockburn’s Special ReserveTawny Port.

Coffee from Spencer Ferrier was an Arabica bean, Costa Rica. Whilst Spencer was otherwise engaged for lunch his notes included the suggestion that this coffee was often referred to as the “Volvo of the coffee world”. Maybe a tad unfair.

James Hill closed the lunch with some reminisces about Beppi Polese who passed last week at age 90 after opening Beppi’s some 60 years ago. I doubt any member of the Society has not lunched there, some dozens if not hundreds of times.

James told some amusing tales of Beppi and Beppi’s including a story about the “The Wine and Food Society people” who bought wine wrapped in newspaper. Indeed, those were the days. Beppi Polese’s life and times deserve much more than space permits here.