We waltzed into the final cook-off with the fifth and final contestant being David Madson assisted by Peter Fitzpatrick and James Tinslay. Again, good numbers with 47 in attendance. Notes are a bit scarce this week as your reporter was assisting and a certain vagueness crept in.

Canapés. One hot and one cold canapé to start the lunch. The hot canapé was a palmier pastry often referred to as elephant’s years. In this case the puff pastry was rolled around crispy bacon and sun-dried tomatoes on a base of Philadelphia cheese (with other bits and pieces), and then baked after being smothered in butter. All 140 disappeared. The cold canapé on crisp bread was a base of avocado topped with chopped fresh prawns with cream fraiche crowned with vinegar “pearls” which David “discovered” for us in 2017. In this case they were tangerine flavoured and very much enjoyed and a first for many.

Aperitif wine. It has been a while since an aperitif wine attracted reasonably consistent dislike but that is what happened with the Giesen Riesling 2012. It appeared to be made in the Germanic style slightly off-dry but with insufficient acid to carry it across the line. Our Winemaster, Paul Ferman, railed against the comments pointing out that he had at least 100 dozen left for people to get to know the wine better.

Main Course. David was recreating the pork belly and watermelon dish that saw him get to the cook-offs. In May last year the review was “pork belly and watermelon salad with the salad component using ingredients such as rice wine vinegar, Thai chilli, kaffir lime leaves, ginger and palm sugar”. The recipe was same, but the dish had been refined/changed somewhat resulting in a range of comments. The pork itself was excellent being double fried but some found the salad too strong in terms of pickling strength and the higher level of acid. Others found the meal just worked well. There was some variation in the plating much of it to do with yours truly and the use of the sauce between the first plating in the last. Just cooked and seasoned green beans accompanied the meat. Once again, the meal was something outside of most attendee’s norm and as such should be applauded.

The Wines.

• Glandore Single Site DPJ Chardonnay (HV) 2017 (screwcap, 13.5%)
• Laurent Gauthier Morgon 2013 (cork, 12.5%)
• Timo Mayer Pinot Noir (Yarra) 2012 (cork, 13%)
• Orlando St Hugo 2001 (cork, 14%)

The main was served with a Hunter Valley Chardonnay and a Morgon Beaujolais. David generously donated the Glandore wine from his vineyard. The young Glandore wine was in fine form with just a light touch of oak and many thought that the acid in the wine worked well with the main. Morgon is one of the more substantial Beaujolais styles and it was drinking well with elegant fruit and mouth filling Gamay characters. Once again, the wine showed what Gamay in Beaujolais is capable of.

The cheese wines were a bit like chalk and cheese (no pun intended) with a young Yarra Pinot Noir up against a 17-year-old Coonawarra Cabernet from Orlando. The Timo Mayer Pinot whilst clearly an Australian Pinot Noir style, was a little lacking in character, but at six years of age it may well hit its straps later. The St Hugo showed significant bottle variation and was becoming a little tired even when one got the opportunity to try a better bottle.

Cheese and coffee. This week, James left the well-trodden path by serving us Berry's Creek Riverine Blue buffalo cheese from Gippsland. White in colour with a very slight blue, it was wonderfully creamy and a cracker of a cheese.

Spencer provided us with Colombian coffee today for the first time in a while. He described it as chocolatey and first class. A few members commented on how delightful it drank.

So, the cookoffs are over, the school sheets are in and will find out our winner in due course.