A great turnout of over 50 people greeted our Foodmaster’s, Nick Reynolds, return to the kitchen for this wine lunch and probably his last gig as Foodmaster. Assisting Nick was the potential Foodmaster in waiting Bill Alexiou-Hucker.

Canapés. We had two canapés and the photographs above do more credit to the servings than mere words. The hot canapé which Nick had been studiously evasive about and which led to many incorrect press guesses, was pickled young ginger, wrapped in Serrano ham and deep-fried. The guesses were wild, mine included. The cold canapé was blinis with sour cream, salmon, chives, dill topped with salmon roe. Both were delightfully successful.

Aperitif wine. The aperitif wines served at this wine lunch was a 2001 Steingarten Riesling. Whilst the wine was under screwcap, there was some bottle variation but only one poor bottle. Two of the screwcaps had leaked but surprisingly, these were very drinkable. The Steingarten was in wonderful condition at 17 years of age with a developed Riesling character well balanced by the more than lingering acid that had survived the years. A beautiful wine

Main Course. The main was advertised as pepper steak and veg and in a way, it was. Nick’s evasive smile when asked before the meal about the meat was answered during the wrap-up when he declared that he had used chuck steak sous vide for some 24 hours before being seared. In retrospect, it was easy to tell by the shape of the meat between the fat that it was indeed chuck steak. It worked.

The steak with pepper sauce (made up of juices, chicken stock, tomato paste, Merlot and pepper) was served with smashed potato and onions, with garlic and thyme. The main was a great surprise for many.

The Wines.

• Tyrrells 4 Acres 2005 (screwcap, 13.5%)
• Lindemans Stevens 2005 (cleanskin) (cork)
• Rosemount Balmoral 2004 (cork, 14%)
• Seppelts St Peters 2006 (screwcap, 13.5%)
• Torbreck The Struie 2004 (cork, 13.5%)
• Murdock Shiraz 2004 (cork, 14.5%)

A wine lunch at first sight for those who like their reds large, Australian and Shiraz. But looks can be deceiving.

The first set of three saw the Tyrrells wine leading off and it did cause some discussion. It was a lighter elegant wine with marked perfume, not unlike Nerello Mascalese or Pinot Noir. It was also a little sweet for some. Next came the Stevens 2005, which was a beautifully elegant Hunter Valley ‘Burgundy’ style. The third of the trio, the Balmoral 2004, was a huge wine but with little of the extracted fruit that those wines sometimes have. It was elegant and well received.

Next was the St Peter’s 2006, running in at only 13.5% alcohol. The wine was rich but not inelegant, but it did not fit into the top echelon of the wines from this label. Next up was the Torbreck 2004, which had its lovers and haters. There was definite bottle variation with the one I tried being extracted, dull and boring. Our table didn’t like it. Finally, the Murdock Shiraz 2004. This label was not known to most of us and again it was a rich Barossa style wand few who found it in the top league of wines at the lunch today.

Cheese and coffee. Cheese by James Healey today was a Neal’s Yard Montgomery’s Cheddar from Somerset. It was of the big wheel variety weighing in at 24 kg. Most had a pretty good idea of what the cheese was although many picked it for a high-quality Australian cheddar. It was drier than many cheddars and hence Pyengana was suggested a few times. Again, a wonderful cheese.

We had a holiday from coffee today, but Spencer’s coffee will return next week.