Wine review is by Chilly Hargrave

The Chef of the Day this week was James Tinslay and in the interests of transparency that would be me. I was assisted by Keith Steele on canapés and in the kitchen and by Gary Linnane with canapés. This, of course, was a wine lunch and Chilly Hargraves presented a wonderful selection of six wines.

NOTE: volunteers to write a review of a lunch are always very welcome.

Canapes

Between Gary and Keith, there were two canapés. From Keith an unusual serve of a small papadum filled with a curry and egg mixture. Simple but very tasty. This is followed by a starter of cornichons on smoked sausage. The sausage was divine and had been sourced by Gary from charcutier Romeo Baudouin.

Main Course

Being a wine lunch the flavours were kept under control with the emphasis on some high-quality free-range chicken thighs skin-on, bone-in that had been browned both sides prior to roasting. The chicken had been baked in a sauce of blood oranges, maple syrup, cranberry and mustard. A good swig of cider vinegar kept any sweetness under control. The chicken was served with duck fat potatoes, baked carrots and asparagus.

Cheese

Cheese today was presented by Gary Linnane and was a Will Studd Comte, one of my very favourites. This was an aged Comte with our portion cut from a 36 kg wheel. It was in excellent shape with medium firmness and wonderful finesse.

Coffee

Spencer was not with us today but he had delivered from Forsyth Coffee House, East Timor coffee. It was medium-bodied with a sweet palate.

Wines

The major aperitif wine today was a 2011 Lindeman’s Semillon. At 8 years of age, it was showing traditional aged Hunter characters. Although still with bright acidity it is nearing its drink now window.

This was followed by an exciting selection of wines for the tasting. A 2014 Tolpuddle Chardonnay was a definitely in its youth. With obvious natural ferment characters, it was supported by well-balanced oak and acidity. It was followed by a pair of 2012 white burgundies. The members were general king in agreement that the third wine was a Chablis while the second came from vineyards further south. The Chablis 1er Cru ‘Fourchaume’ showed the expected whetstone minerality although it was starting to show some evolution. Such a shame that the top end Chablis have cork rather than screw cap. The Vincent Girardin St Aubin 1er Cru ’Les Dents de Chien’ was in good condition with an excellent balance of fruit, oak and acidity. The Girardin wines are made in the bigger style which brought more depth to the St Aubin. As mentioned on the day, St Aubin is tucked in behind the Montrachet vineyard and can offer excellent buying if you choose a vineyard with good aspect.

The bracket of 3 Pinot Noirs was led by a glorious 2012 Phillipe Cheron Vosne Romanée ‘Les Barreaux’. Although not classified the vineyard sits just above the Grand Cru ‘Richbourg’. The wine had lovely, bright, cherry fruit with a great length on the palate. The tannins were still surprisingly firm. A wine that we won’t see for some time as it is still so young. Brilliant. The other burgundy was a 2010 Roche de Bellene Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru ‘Lavaut St Jacques’. A vineyard on the other side of the village to the great Grand Crus, the wine was a beautiful example of a mature burgundy - complex with depth and richness. The tannins were softer than might be expected from the village, but that meant it was a great drink on the day.

Another 2010 wine was the Yabby Lake Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir. It stood up pretty well to the competition from the burgundies of a similar age, but much higher price point. The winemaker (Tom Carson) is a ‘burgundyfile’ and it shows in the complexity and vigour he has been able to extract from the fruit.

As an aside, we opened 16 bottles today that were under cork with no TCA issues. That followed on from 30 Spanish wines under cork with no issues as well. Not sure what that means. Just lucky I think!!!