Food review by James Tinslay and wine review by Chilly Hargrave

The final wine lunch of the year was upon us and in the kitchen today was one of our accomplished providers Nick Reynolds. Nick was assisted by another accomplished provider in James Hill. What a pair and the theme was duck.

Canapé

The canapés began with a duck consomme prepared by Paul Thorne. Not content to use cloudy stock, Paul fines the duck stock with egg whites to produce a beautifully clear and tasty starter for the meal. Paul had lightly dusted some orange zest across each portion which added an extra level of complexity and zing.

The other canapé was of course duck but duck pate served on pastry shells. I recall the pate was a blend of three different types. It was strongly flavoured as duck should be.

Main Course

As always with Nick, there was a lot going on with the presentation of the dish. The centrepiece was confit duck maryland, served with a duck spring roll and a whole duck egg. This was served on top of lentils cooked in red wine and chicken stock. The photo above will tell you all you need to know. The presentation was pleasing to the eye and the taste terrific.

The bread was supplied by James Hill and of course, it was Iggys, but specifically, the incredible looking large round version where individual ‘rounds’ can be ripped off to enjoy with the butter, which was made by Nick in his kitchen.

Cheese

James Healey served us a Beaufort cheese today, another one of the Society’s favourites. This cheese from the Rhône Alps is beautifully firm with a creamy texture and it was much-loved.

Coffee

Coffee from Spencer Ferrier today was Ethiopian Guji, an area that borders Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, both coffees we have had before. Full flavoured with sweet overtones.

Wines

In celebration of his birthday, Roger McGuiness treated us to a large volume of Piper Heidsieck. Given the speed with which we were removing corks, it was a generosity that was very much appreciated. Following the rapid evaporation of the Champagne we presented the 2014 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon. We had the Belford version of this vintage last week which was showing some development. The Vat 1, however, is still in its early stages and will be good drinking over the next 4 or 5 years.

Nick described the sensational duck dish that he was producing, so the search was on to find matching wines. Over the last few months, we have had a number of examples of Pinot Noir, considered the ideal match for duck. Often in blind tastings, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese have been mistaken for Pinot Noir. For this lunch we have gone down that path with three wines from the Piemonte and three from Tuscany.

The first wine was an odd one out being a 2014 Barbera d’Alba. Made by renowned producer Elvis Cogno it had complex aromas of red fruits with a palate showing similar fruit and the expected soft tannins and bright acidity. It will probably be at its best over the next 12 months. For many, it was the ideal match of the day. Second up was a Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo from the same vintage. Here we saw the typical pale colour and rose petal aromas, and again some maturation. The Nebbiolo tannins were starting to soften and the fruit flavours were rounding.

The third wine from the Piemonte was quite unique. The 2011 Aldo Contorno Langhe Rosso is a blend of 80% Freisa (an ancient local variety) and 10% of each of Cabernet and Merlot. The name is derived from the Latin to suggest its aroma of wild strawberry. It is variously suggested that Freisa shares parentage with Nebbiolo while others say that it IS the parent of Nebbiolo. The recognisable grainy tannins were present while the fruit flavours were still lively. An extremely well-made wine with excellent balance of oak.

Moving south to Tuscany we first tasted another wine with Cabernet support. The 2010 Tenuta di Ghizzano Veneroso IGT has 30% Cabernet blended with the 70% Sangiovese. Like many of the Super Tuscans, the large vineyards of the estate are in the coastal region of Tuscany. It showed dark cherries, plums and herbs on the nose with a wonderful harmony of Sangiovese cherry fruit and the black currant of Cabernet with its chalky tannins. A fully organic vineyard, it shows what can be achieved with great attention to detail from a great vintage.

The final two wines were both 100% Sangiovese from Isole e Olena. The Cepparello is the flagship of their large portfolio. It was first produced in the 1970s and carries the descriptor IGT because at the time Chianti had to have a certain proportion of the local white varieties. Two vintages were tasted, the 2012 and the masked 2009. Both had a large input of pencil shavings oak aromas reflecting 18 months maturation in a combination of French and American oak barriques, one-third new. The 2012 wine (scored 97 points by Antonio Galloni) was beautifully poised with a mix of rich, dark, savoury fruits and silky tannins - still a young wine. The oak flavours certainly carried the palate and the wine was much appreciated by those liking this style. The older vintage was from the hot year 2009. This wine showed significant development with tannins softening, fruit moving away from the savoury notes of the 2012 and the oak characters starting to fade.