Gary Patterson was in the kitchen today for the February wine luncheon celebrating the 97^th anniversary of the foundation of the International Working Union of Socialist Parties. It was really just a front to ensure that we could identify and eliminate any commies in the room. Gary was assisted by Matthew Holmes despite stories Matthew heard about the excitement of cooking with Gary.

Canapés. Gary had promised us a complete seafood menu and he came good on his commitment. The sashimi tuna was very fresh and its intense colour was a stand out. What grabbed the attention of members on the day were the crab cakes which were described as fabulous and for some the highlight of the meal. A great start.

Aperitif wine. Our Winemaster started us off with the New Zealand Framingham Dry Riesling 2006 under screwcap. Framingham is arguably New Zealand’s top producer of Riesling with a range of styles loosely modelled on Germanic styles. I thought a fantastic wine but clearly there were others who found the residual sugar not to their liking and others who just found the wine boring. For many, the 12-year-old dry Riesling was a wonderful way to start the day.

Main Course. To those who have been to meals before cooked by Gary you can see the style. He likes to accompany his main portions with salads or similar to produce light fresh dishes. Today we had a salad with individual seafood terrines. Gary made a point of saying that he had used whole pieces of seafood in each terrine preferring this over pureeing. The resulting texture was excellent. Whole pieces of French sourced scallops provided a beautiful plump centrepoint for the dish which was accompanied by king prawns from the Gulf and salmon supplied by Tassell. He had sourced all the seafood from a local wholesale outlet avoiding retail to ensure quality. The image above is unclear but the salad was lettuce, mushroom and tomato on a yolk-based sauce. A wonderful dish.

The Wines.

• By Farr Char Three Oaks Vineyard 2015 (screwcap, 13%)
• William Fevre Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2010 (cork, 13%)
• Vincent Girardin Meursault 2012 (cork, 13%)
• Hugel Jubilee Riesling 2009 (cork, 12%)
• Lindemans Pyrus 1998 (cork, 13%)
• Lindemans Pyrus 2008 (screwcap, 13.2%)

A great collection of wines which was preceded by the birthday wine from Ross Tzannes, a wonderful Remoissenet Chassagne -Montrachet 2014, a simply delicious wine and a generous gift from Ross. Thank you.

The By Farr 2015 wine was a very well-made wine but was in the shadow of the complexity of the other white Burgundies. It is still young, and some found it a little over oaked although that was not a universal view. The Premier Cru Chablis at 8 years of age still had some lemon complexity and minerality and was ready to drink. Some thought it a wine of the day.

Next came the Girardin Meursault wine which had beautiful stone fruit richness and again the minerality one expects of Burgundy. It was quite a contrast to the Chablis and drinking beautifully. Last of the whites was the Hugel Jubilee Riesling from 2009. This wine was not a match with the other whites but was an excellent Alsace Riesling with less than 4 g/L of residual sugar. The acid and the sweet fruit (thought dry) made for a stunning wine that in isolation with the seafood would have gained a higher rating with many of those at lunch.

We finished with the two Pyrus wines from 1998 and 2008. Surprisingly, the hue and colour of the wines were not dissimilar. On the palate obviously the 1998 was more aged with most thinking it was in excellent condition for a 20-year-old wine whilst others thought it was past its prime. The 2008 was still very fresh at 10 years of age and was definitely showing its regional origin. Fresh, somewhat simple but very drinkable.

Cheese and coffee. The Cheesemaster served us a El Esparto Manchego Artesno (see image of the beautiful looking packaging) from the Will Studd collection. James has been buying from Will Studd for a while. They are a Melbourne-based wholesaler. It would be simplifying Manchego to say that they all tasted the same. This had quite a different coloured rind and was a dryer style of Manchego with some comments I heard suggesting it was too dry.

Spencer Ferrier had selected a Mexican peaberry coffee bean at the behest of Gary Patterson and it was interesting in so far that it was a change from recent coffees. The dosage was apparently the same, but it is a lighter flavoured more acidic coffee which I found to be a little on the bland side.

President Keith Steele closed the lunch noting the numerous stories that existed about those who had cooked over the years with Gary in the kitchen. The good news is that Gary can laugh along with us on these incidences and it doesn’t gloss over the fact that Gary always turns out a good meal despite the path that may have got him and his assistants over the line.