For our June wine lunch, James Hill was back in the kitchen again. Again. He was assisted in the kitchen by Paul Thorne also produced the canapés today.

Canapes. Paul showed up super organised with two canapés. The first was ‘borscht but not borscht’. This was a beetroot (roasted) based soup along with ginger and saffron and was served in small shot glasses. The next were blinis topped with alternatives of salmon and white anchovy with some use of creme fraiche as a topper. Both went down a treat.

Main course. James purchased some fantastic looking organic beef fillets which were served on potato mash (mainly butter and cream and a light touch of potato!!) with silverbeet. These had been simply poached in veal stock, chilli, garlic, star anise, Pernod et cetera et cetera. The pinkness or otherwise of individual servings depended on the position in the fillet that ended up on your plate. Knives were technically redundant as I could quite easily cut mine with a light lean on the fork. Beautiful beef, beautiful flavours.

Cheese. James Healey went local today with a Pecora Dairy Mezza from Robertson in New South Wales. This was a semi-hard cheese made from Friesian sheep and it is aged for 6 to 9 months. Some lunchers thought the cheese a little bland but that is, James explained its style and he fulfilled the Society’s educational objectives with a cheese new to all of us.

This being a James Hill lunch we enjoyed Iggy’s bread. James served organics dried fruit with the cheese. Excellent quality.

Coffee. Coffee today from Spencer Ferrier, in absentia, was a Brazilian AA grade coffee. We were back in South America on our worldwide tour and the coffee quality again confirmed why this of our favourite non-alcoholic beverages.

Wines. Greg Chugg ran the lunch, selected and presented the wines as the Winemaster of the day. The wine theme was three reds from 1996 and three from 1998.

Aperitif.

We started off with a Jim Barry Riesling 2013. This Clare wine was showing some development and was a very good Australian Riesling style. It remains a conundrum, why Riesling remains a hard sell to the broader market busy quaffing Savvy.

Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 1998

This was built in the Black Label style and whilst opinions and taste experience vary, this 1998 was one of the better examples, although a little on the sweeter side.

Katnook Cabernet Sauvignon 1998

It goes without saying that given six wines over 20 years of age, there was bottle variation. Mine was a little oxidised with the fruit past its best. For others, it was a wine of the day. The fun of old wines.

Seppelts Drumborg Cabernet Sauvignon 1998

Although a firm wine with tannins dominant there was a softness and pleasing mouthfeel and finish. Certainly, a different style from the Coonawarra’s that preceded.

Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1996

It has been some time since one of these wines has been served at the Society and it was in very good condition. The tannins had softened and there was more than just a little residual fruit to make this very good drinking.

Lindemans Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet 1996

For some, this dominant Shiraz blend from Coonawarra was the wine of the day. It reminds us that the Trio of Lindemans has been a bedrock for wine drinkers. Ray Kidd stood to speak to this wine, one of his ‘children’.

Yeringberg Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec 1996

This wine was the lowest in alcohol of the day at 12.5%. Yeringberg is a much-admired Yarra Valley producer and it was unfortunate that the bottle that I tasted today was a little past best although wonderfully mellow.

Another classic wine lunch for wine and food with many satisfied punters.