Our executive chef of the day, President Keith Steele, organised his mate Jason Hannah from William Blue Dining to prepare us lunch. Jason is the Executive Chef and Head Teacher of the William Blue Dining training facility for apprentice chefs. Assisting Keith was John R Edwards and Jason bought two of his young apprenticeships along to assist him and for the experience in another restaurant.

Canapés. Both canapés originated from Keith Steele, the first being a pork terrine on bread sourced from Victoire topped with pickles and seeded mustard. This was followed by top notch anchovies also on bread.

Aperitif wine. Peter Lehmann Eden Valley Riesling 2008 started us on our journey today with a pretty standard 11% alcohol. One of the many fine facets of Riesling is its relatively low alcohol. The Riesling was showing a little development in its colour and was as expected and excellent example of what the Eden Valley does so well with the grape. The match of acid and fruit saw us drinking this wine at its best.

Main course. Jason had chosen for us today deboned spatchcock roulade with a truffled mince/bread stuffing. The drumettes were not excluded and were deep fried with the skin folded back. This was served with Paris mash, pumpkin purée, pickled golf ball carrots and sugar snaps. The jus was made from the stock of the chicken bones with a touch of vinegar. The presentation, as can be seen above, was excellent and the touch of pickled golf ball carrots was much commented on. The spatchcock meat was succulent and the stuffing matched perfectly.

The Wines.

• Metrat “Cote Rotie” Chiroubles Beaujolais 2012 (cork, 12.5%)
• Anne Gros & Jean-Paul Tollot La Ciaude Minervois (Languedoc-Roussillon) 2012 (cork, 14%)
• Bowen Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (cork, 14.5%)
• Devil’s Lair Cabernet Merlot 2007 (screwcap, 13.5%)

The Chiroubles to start with (which has the confusing handle Cote Rotie) was in excellent condition and was a classic Beaujolais albeit one of higher quality with classic Gamay characteristics. The pairing wine was the Minervois of the same vintage. Languedoc is an often-overlooked area although it is a prodigious producer of wine. With a blend of. Carignan, Syrah and Grenache it relates very well to Australian palates although having drier tannins. The wine was soft and balanced and a good match for the Beaujolais. In fact, they were both well matched to the poultry.

Both the cheese wines were screaming Cabernet and they were both substantial. The Bowen came from the great 2006 year but some saw a little greenness in it, a not uncommon characteristic of Coonawarra. The Margaret River wine had more elegance, but some felt there was a little overuse of oak for the fruit level. Both classic Australian Cabernets.

Cheese and coffee. Our acting Cheesemaster Gary Linnane provided us with Maffra cloth aged cheese with 18 months on the clock. This Gippsland based producer makes a range of cow’s milk cheese with the cloth aged version having a bit more bite and crumbly texture than it stablemates. A wonderful cheddar. Cheese was served with dried apricots and bowls of mixed dried fruit. A good match.

Coffee was by Spencer Ferrier and presented to us by Hilton Chapman. The coffee was Ethiopian and some described as having a buttery character.

Keith invited Jason Hannah to introduce his two young apprenticeships and talk to the food produced for us today. Jason described in detail the food and opinioned that he preferred the Beaujolais with the spatchcock.

Lunch reminded a number of those present that it was time to visit William Blue Dining once again.