Thanks to Nick Reynolds for the food report and Charles "Chilly" Hargrave for the wine reviews.

Traditionally the food has taken a secondary role at a Wine Tasting. Today, however, it served the role of perfectly complementing the excellent range of wines by being excellent in itself.

With Society favourite John Rourke in the kitchen, ably assisted by John Banks in a welcome return to the kitchen, we were sure to get an outstanding meal.

We also welcomed back former member Jose Pereira to the kitchen presenting a sample of the award-winning range of smallgoods from his factory, Sunshine Meats.

Jose treated us firstly to smoked duck breast and double smoked chili chicken breast, both finely sliced. He followed this with two sausages. The first, which was presented cold, was duck chorizo. The second, presented hot, was Farinheira, which is a smoked Portuguese sausage made from flour, coarse pork mince, wine, garlic, paprika, cumin, and other seasonings. Normally made with wheat flour, Jose’s version was gluten-free.

Both appetisers were welcomed by our meat-loving group and were a perfect accompaniment to the appetiser wines, which are described below.

The main course was a Cassoulet, whose home is in the south-west region of France. There was much discussion amongst the group as to what went into a traditional Cassoulet, including whether it was wet or dry and whether it had tomato and/or bread crumbs. The general agreement was that like most traditional foods, the “correct version” “depends on what your grandmother made or what you were first exposed to and no-one’s going to agree anyway, so let’s just enjoy what we have in front of us.”

And enjoy it we did. Today’s version was a dry Cassoulet with duck confit, rich duck sauce (made predominately from duck necks), Great Northern beans, and three different types of sausage: Cotechino imported from Modena, the rich garlic-laced Toulouse sausage, and the previously described Farinheira from Jose’s Sunshine Meats.

The main course was universally acclaimed as being excellent and a perfect accompaniment for the wines. A number commented on the size of the portions but this was likely a guilty reaction to over-indulgence because virtually all plates went back empty to the kitchen.

James Healey continued the locational theme by serving us a Pyrénées produced 100% sheep cheese from the bottom of Mt. Baigura in the heart of French Basque Country. The Agour Petite Brebis Pimento is an artisan semi-hard sheep milk cheese that has a natural rind which is covered with pimento in the later stages of affinage. The cheese went extremely well with the second three wines. John Rourke accompanied the cheese with a mixed lettuce salad strewn with rehydrated raisins and roasted walnuts.

The coffee, which was provided by Spencer Ferrier, came from Columbia and had a nutty dense flavour that also went well with the cheese and wine.

We were sad to hear that a stalwart of our Society and frequent volunteer for door duties, Dr Neil Galbraith, is leaving Sydney to join family in Melbourne. He will be sorely missed. On the eve of his departure, he provided society members with three delicious Australian fortified wines, which was an ideal way to finish an outstanding wine and food tasting.

The wines

Chilly Hargraves was on wines again today and had a fascinating range for us to match the food.

Domaine Cauhope Jurançon 2017

Domaine Oratoire 2016

Clos des Fées Vielles Vignes 2013

La Peira Las Flores 2012

Domaine Sang des Cailloux Vacqueyras 2009

Guigal Château Neuf du Pâpe 2005

Guigal St Joseph 2010

Guigal Côte Rôtie 2010

First off the rank was a Jurançon 2017 white from Domaine Cauhope. A blend of traditional South-West varieties Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, Camaralet, Lauzet and Courbure Blanc. It had an intense fruit aroma, almost spicey, and a rich palate with an appealing dry finish. The next white was a traditional 2016 Southern Rhône blend from Domaine Oratoire of Clairette, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc. As expected it was a dense, full-flavoured wine with a layered complexity. Of course, we had sherry. On this occasion the delightfully fresh Lustau Jurana.

The wines to match the main course of cassoulet were a broad selection of Grenache-based reds. An initial pair from Roussillon and Languedoc showed a diversity of interpretation. The Vielles Vignes 2013 from Clos des Fées was dominated by lively Carignan and Grenache raspberry fruits. At 4 years of age, it showed freshness and soft tannins. The Las Flores 2012 from La Peira was more in the New World style with abundant oak that rather dominated the fruit on the palate.

Moving to the Southern Rhône we tasted a Vacqueyras 2009 from Domaine Sang des Cailloux and a Guigal Château Neuf du Pâpe 2005. The first, although from a hot vintage, showed some delightful cherry and spice with soft grainy tannins. The CNdP carried the high oak intensity characteristic of a traditional Guigal. It has moved into a more mature style without obvious fruit but was still energetic with a wonderful richness and complexity from an excellent vintage.

We moved further north for the cheese wines. Again, we continued the Guigal theme with two 2010 Syrah wines from St Joseph and Côte Rôtie. Another great vintage has brought the spicy perfumed fruit of St Joseph to the fore. Unlike the top end Guigal wines it spent only 18 months in second use oak. The Côte Rôtie was undoubtedly the favourite wine for the day. A wine of enormous intensity and complexity. It had the spice and white pepper of a great Rhône Syrah balanced with the apricot, stone fruit aromas of 4% Viognier. Delightful firm, grainy fruit and oak tannins took the wine to a savoury finish.