James Hill as chef of the day at our wine luncheon delivered a wonderful meal. His compatriots in crime were Gary Linnane and Mark Bradford.

Canape. The first was smoked Snowy Mountain river trout with horseradish on Iggy’s bread. As usual the Iggy’s was crisp, tasty and just bloody delicious. As was the trout. The other was a baked olive dish. A first for most of us it had coriander, orange peel and other stuff. Simple and delicious.

Aperitif wine. A Game of Vat 47’s. Take your pick from maderised 2000’s Chardonnays to medium brown examples. Those who refused to taste dark examples missed some pretty good wines. We also had a couple of bottles of the Vat 47 1999 vintage complete with a Lower Fort Street covering of dust. Both the 1999 and 2000 were under cork the former being in better condition and more consistent.

Main course. Duck but not as know it. A confit duck reminiscent of pulled pork in style was topped with a potato mash. The duck was slow cooked and just wonderful. A delight to dig down and find the duck meat. James served this with slow cooked courgettes with tarragon. Whilst served as a separate dish it went famously when mixed in with the mash and duck. A very good winter dish which we could all equally enjoy in a January heat wave.

The wines – a wine lunch.

$1·         By Farr Sangreal Pinot Noir 2010

$1·         Remoissenet Gevrey-Chambertin 2009

$1·         Craggy Range Calvert Pinot Noir 2009 (Central Otago)

$1·         Tenuta di Ghizzano Veneroso Toscana IGT 2010 (predominately Sangiovese)

$1·         Yannick Amirault Bourgueil la Petite Cave 2009 (Cabernet Franc)

$1·         Tyrrells 4 Acres Shiraz 2007

A fabulous selection of wines. The three Pinots were a class of contrasts. The By Farr was a stand out for many. The Craggy Range was the sweetest of the group. The Tuscan had wonderful Sangiovese savoury overtones and a little sweetness from the (IGT) Cabernet blend. The Bourgueil had very dusty tannin overtones, a classic 100% Cabernet Franc wine. Finally, the Tyrrells wine is one of their finest labels. Some found it underdeveloped and needing more time. Whatever, great fruit and much in front yet to come.

Cheese and coffee. James Hill in his acting Cheesemaster role wrapped around being in the kitchen presented Perezin Millefoglie al Marzemino a semi-hard Italian cheese. Much appreciated by all. Nutty, savoury and more. The salad was Treviso lettuce with fennel, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A great match for the cheese.

Coffee was a “bitsa”. Bit of this and that.