Thanks to James Hill for the food review and Chilly Hargrave for the wine review.

We had a great roll-up for lunch today with 52 members booked. Our current Seafood Chef the Year, Hal Epstein, was in the kitchen and Winemaster Charles (Chilly) Hargrave presenting his first wine tasting since taking over the role.

Canapes

Hal presented two canapés today both a very good match with our aperitif wine the 2010 Keith Tulloch Semillon from the Hunter Valley.

Firstly bocconcini sandwiched between basil leaves (two types, local and Thai ) and cherry tomatoes.

Then followed Lavosh biscuit with Liptauer (Austrian style cream cheese with paprika and caraway) topped with a slice of Polsky pickled cucumber.

Main Course

We didn't go home hungry today..at the suggestion of our Foodmaster Hal served us whole knuckle of Schweinshaxe mit Rotkohl. This translates into pig’s knuckle with red cabbage, roasted to obtain a crisp crackly skin covering the delicious pork leg parts and meat – traditional European fare. It was served today with red cabbage (finely cut with granny smith apple, butter, sugar and apple cider vinegar) and boiled chat potatoes with parsley finish.

It was perfectly cooked. Hal advised he had purchased the meat from a butcher in Hurstville specialising in pork and he finished it in the kitchen for us today.

Cheese

Gary Linnane presented the cheese today selected by James Healey in absentia.

It was the Pyengana Clothbound Cheddar, a Pasteurised cow's milk cheese from Tasmania. Pyengana has an open texture and can be crumbly curd structure. Being a handmade farmhouse cheese, variations in character will appear determined by the season and conditions when the cheese was made. General aromas are reminiscent of summer grass, herbs and honey. The cheddar can be released at around six months but develops into a far more interesting cheese if cellared to twelve months or more.

The majority of comments on cheese today stated that this was the best example of Pyengana we've tasted at our lunches.

Coffee

Continuing our around the world theme of coffee we had a single-origin coffee from Peru. It had fruity notes and quite aromatic with a full flavour finish.

Wines

Today’s wine lunch provided an eclectic range of wines.

With the aperitif, we had ample supplies of the 2010 Tulloch Semillon. A wine that surprised many with its freshness and regional intensity. Perhaps drinking near its best, it was another testament to the ageability of Hunter Semillon and the screwcap closure.

Four wines were presented with the pork knuckle main course. Riesling is the traditional accompaniment for this dish. The first, a 2009 Hugel Jubilee Riesling, was from the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg vineyard. This was a warm year and it showed rich fruit characters although a dry finish. Diam cork.

The matching wine was the 2010 Egon Muller Kabinett Riesling from the Grand Cru Schwarzhofberger vineyard. A very different wine to the first, this showed obvious botrytis apricot notes with citrus fruits. Although quite sweet. It had an intensity that made it a great match for the pork. Screwcap.

Two Burgundies were also matched to the main course. The first, a 2011 Maison Roche de Bellene Volnay Les Mitans (1er Cru) perhaps lacked the fruit intensity expected of the village and the tannins were a little green from this cool vintage. The 2012 Domaine de Bellene Beaune Les Grèves (1er Cru) showed the depth and intensity expected from this village with a fine tannin structure. I believe both wines suffered from development under cork and there was discussion in the room about bottle variability due to cork. One of the Beaune bottles was rejected due to a TCA taint.

With the cheese came two great Italian Sangiovese from the radiant 2009 vintage. Again warm, as in Alsace, it produced wines of genuine ripeness and depth. The 2009 Antinori Pian delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino (cork) was, as expected, a wine with full maturity and an obvious oak overlay. Tannins were still firm. In contrast, the 2009 Isole e Olena Ceparello was a vibrant and beautifully balanced wine. At 10 years of age, this wine still had a freshness and vigour that will ensure a long life. Not surprisingly it was closed with a screw cap. No bottle variation here.