In the kitchen this week was James Tinslay (that would be me) being ably assisted by David Madson and Keith Steele. This is this of course was a wine luncheon with the usual protocols of keeping the spice and heat level down, which we did.

Canapés. Two canapés were served on the day. David’s contribution was olive based concoctions on pieces of toast. One is canapes was based on black olive on the other on green olive and the visual effect was excellent. The other canapé care of Keith were Skippy (kangaroo) sausage rolls which were a real treat and succulent, given the pork fat that had been added to the very lean kangaroo. Both excellent starters. Thank you both.

Aperitif wine. The aperitif wine today was a 2005 Tyrrell HVD Semillon. This was in excellent condition with enough acid to deal with the fat content of the sausage rolls. The mandatory Sherry was also available.

Main Course. Because I feel that we don’t have enough chicken at lunches, today’s dish was indeed chicken. Some 15 chickens had been deboned and spatchcocked and marinated for three days in a blend of allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, garlic et cetera et cetera. They were then charred on the hot plate and then slowly cooked in the oven. The chicken was served on crunchy pan-fried asparagus in balsamic, duck fat roast potatoes and a Marie Rose sauce. Comments were complimentary but of course the main deal was the wines.

The Wines.

• William Fevre Fourchaume 1er Chablis 2012
• Curley Flat Chardonnay 2012
• Cos Pithos 2011 (Nero d’Avola and Frappato from Sicily)
• Tyrrell Old Patch Shiraz 2007
• Rosemount Mountain Blue 2006
• Duval Grenache 2015

Being a bit side-tracked with the kitchen, there was insufficient time to give these wines a good look over. However, the Chablis had it all over the Curley Flat of the same year given the minerality of the former.

The Sicilian wine sees no wood and was fresh and drinking beautifully. The Duvall Grenache from 2015 shows how Australian Grenache need not be too sweet (as some were in days gone by) and it was extraordinarily elegant and drinkable.

The match between the Old Patch and the Rosemount Shiraz was fascinating. I had expected Tyrrells to be a bit more forthright in character, but it was very elegant and floral in the style of the old Hunter River Burgundy. The Mountain Blue was what you expected, a well-made wine and at 12 years of age still very drinkable.

Cheese and coffee. James Hill had ceded to my request with an aged Comte cheese from Will Studd, a favourite of mine. It was made from unpasteurised milk and matured in damp underground cellars high in the mountainous region that borders France and Switzerland. A real treat.

For the aforementioned reasons I have no record of the coffee of the day except recalling that I enjoyed sitting down and drinking it after cooking.

Thanks to Keith and David for their kind assistance.