Our President, Keith Steele, was in the kitchen this week for our May wine lunch and was assisted by Graham Gardner. Graham is learning the ropes and we hope to see him again in the kitchen soon. Our Winemaster of the day was Hilton Chapman.

Canapés. Once again, our providers of the day treated us to three canapés. Graham had made full butter puff pastry with mushrooms and chives to start us off. This was followed by a chiken liver pate on toasted rounds and mushroon and fennell tarts. All tasty.

Aperitif wine. Hilton selected a young Semillon from the 2014 vintage from Brokenwood. As expected of a wine from this esteemed maker it was clean with bright fruit, under screwcap. This wine will improve for some time and whilst a little simple just now it will be fascinating to watch its development.

Main course. Keith chose slow cooked beef cheeks as his protein of the day. The texture was wonderful and could be simply cut with a fork. He had spent a lot of time removing little pieces of fat, sinew and silverskin and that gave the meat a particularly soft texture. Cooked for 5 hours with a gallon or so of PX sherry, Bordeaux red and vegetables the sauce was a treat. The cheeks were served on a cauliflower mash with sugar snap peas done in such a way on some plates (see photograph below) that reminded some of the Opera House.

The wines. Hilton’s selections today were interesting in that they were all under screwcap and there were none from South Australia. They were

• Best’s Bin 1 Shiraz 2012 (screwcap)
• Best’s Bin 0 Shiraz 2010 (screwcap)
• De Bortoli Shiraz Viognier 2007 (screwcap)
• Seppelts St Peters Shiraz 2007 (screwcap)
• Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2007 (screwcap)
• Tyrrells Old Patch Shiraz 2007 (screwcap)

The Best’s wines were a contrast between younger fruit and the complexity of older vines and more effort. The Bin 1 whilst entry-level was spicy and is excellent value for money. The Bin 0 with a few more years age had more complexity and length whilst also showing the spicy overtones. Some commentators found that the Bin 0 was little overripe and stewed but that was not shared amongst all.

The following four wines were in order from Yarra Valley, Grampians, Margaret River and the Hunter Valley. Not surprisingly there was a definite change of style moving between the wines. The De Bortoli was showing its age and seemed forward and should be drunk now. The St Peters was still showing significant oak but it was well balanced by its stylish fruit as befits a Seppelts flagship wine. The Cape Mentelle attracted differing comments and whilst the wine was elegant with a particularly long finish it was starting to show some age and many agreed that it needed drinking over the next year or two. The Tyrrells Old Patch had typical sweeter Hunter Valley fruit which was beautifully round in the mouth. At 10 years of age it needs more time to show its best.

Hilton suggested that this may have been the first time that we have had an entire selection of wine under screwcap.

Cheese and coffee. Gary Linnane’s choice of cheese was Beaufort from Savoie, France. It is a firm, raw cow's milk cheese associated with the Gruyère family. One of the best cheeses of the year and is worth its not unsubstantial price.

Spencer Ferrier in absentia provided us Peru Gesha. It is one of the world’s most expensive coffees and is considered to produce a very aromatic and floral cup of coffee showing many fruit flavours although mild to light in style.

Keith thanked the some 48 people who attended this wine lunch with special thanks to Graham Gardner for his assistance.