The Chef of the Day for the first spring lunch was our Winemaster. Paul Ferman. His assistant, meant to be Josef Condrau, was struck down by the flu and Paul soldiered on with the very capable assistance of the REX kitchen crew.

Canapés. Paul had prepared two starters for us today. Up first was a pâté served on Iggy’s bread with a fruit topping made of a variety of fruit chutneys al la Col Sanders. The pâté was made from pork, chicken, bacon and chicken liver. Very tasty. Next came a spring vegetable soup again made up of a variety of vegetables and it was very refreshing.

Aperitif wine. The aperitif wine was the Framingham Dry Riesling 2006 from Marlborough. It was a somewhat controversial wine with some of us referring to it as stunning and others not so much. Framingham is known as a high-quality producer of Riesling and this Dry Riesling is release with some age. This wine at 11 years of age had almost searing acid and was just off-dry with residual sugar around 12 to 15 g/L. It was tight, structured and long. This wine will last.

Main course. The lunch notice said beef bourguignon and whether this was a misunderstanding or more likely a deliberate ploy is open to debate. The result was both successful and surprising. You will see from the photographs above that the main course was certainly red meat but had been slow cooked and shredded in the way of pulled pork. However, it was kangaroo rump, slow cooked and it was delicious. The vegetables accompanying the protein were many and varied and was served in individual bowls on each table. Once again, we had duck fat potatoes (spoiled for two weeks in a row) with carrots, brussels sprouts, French shallots and even deep-fried chestnuts. Most of the vegetables were slow cooked in chicken stock and wine. An excellent course.

The Wines.

• Tyrrells Stevens Shiraz 2011 (screwcap, 13%)
• Anguollong Fossil Hill Sangiovese 2009 (Orange) (screwcap, 14.5%)
• Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (screwcap, 14%)
• Fraser Gallop Cabernet Sauvignon (Margaret River) 2012 (screwcap, 14%)

The Hunter Shiraz and the Orange Sangiovese the were worlds apart. The youthful Tyrrells Shiraz had an extraordinarily spicy characteristic with typical Hunter medium bodied fruit. A well like style with no interfering oak due to the use of large oak maturation. A bit young but a nice future. The Sangiovese at 8 years of age was getting past its best although it still had some sour cherry characteristics. The Orange wine was a favourite at some tables.

The comparison of two Australian Cabernets were selected by the Winemaster for a reason. Both 2012 the Mildara was minty and pleasant but was simple and short. The Margaret River wine which also had about 10% of Petite Verdot and Malbec was in the true Margaret River style, dusty, blackcurrant overtones and a touch of tobacco. This is a solid wine with fine and long tannins and whilst somewhat more expensive than the Mildara it showed true quality.

Cheese and coffee. James Healey served a favourite of many members with Swiss Gruyere. Most picked cow’s milk (or said they did) and it had a wonderful complexity, nutty and sweet and an aroma makes it impossible to ignore. A wonderful cheese that many would be happy to have every week.

Spencer Ferrier in absentia today provided an Indian peaberry coffee. A peaberry, as he has explained before, is a natural mutation of the coffee bean inside its cherry. The coffee bean grows two to a fruit rather than one much like a peanut. It had excellent body and a pleasant dark chocolate finish.

Paul Ferman donated two bottles of McWilliams Vintage Port 1966 which were poured around the tables. Unlike many vintage ports from that era, his was not a tawny port but was a true vintage port and in excellent drinking condition after heavy filtering.

Paul Ferman when speaking to the food made very encouraging comments about the support and the innovation of ideas from the kitchen crew assisting on the day.

Our VP, Peter Kelso, closed the lunch to a room full of very satisfied members.