Food review by James Tinslay and wine review by Chilly Hargrave.

Apologies for the lack of photos, a misunderstanding. 

Food

Peter Kelso was in the kitchen today preparing a meal that had been postponed from February.

Starters

As we are back to vertical drinking, we started with a cold cucumber soup with onion, pepper et cetera. As a person who despises celery, I have to say I rather enjoyed this cold starter. Next up was a flatbread pinwheel that had been layered with salmon and mustard. There were large quantities but it all seemed to disappear during the aperitif vino.

Main course

The main came with a beautiful presentation. A Japanese based meal, kingfish which had been glazed with mirin, sake and sugar. It had been briefly oven cooked and was served with Japanese dashi stock, vegetable stock, seafood stock and a few other bits and pieces. Udon noodles were added to the brew before serving. Besides the appealing look of the dish, it was very flavourful and the fish was moist. It was tasty and I daresay it was healthy. The dish received very positive comments.

Cheese

The cheese from James Healey today had been sourced from the Calendar Cheese Company and was a Heidi Farms Gruyere which comes in 10 kg rounds. The farm is in Tasmania’s north and Heidi Farm cheeses are produced using milk from neighbouring farms giving them consistent and unique characteristics that are specific to the location.

Sadly, today, the cheese that we had did not appear to be in peak condition and was a little dry and as one member described, boring. It was a shame as we have had this cheese before and it has been enjoyable

Served with the cheese today we had toasted walnuts and figs. This was served with a St Agnes XO brandy, which was wonderful. Deep amber, a brandy that does Australia proud.

Wine

Once again we had three pairs of wines for this week’s lunch. The 2011 Hunter Semillons provided an interesting contrast. The Thomas Braemore was very much what we would expect from a 10 year old. It had moved very much into its most developed phase. Still bright, but with buttered toast over citrus.

The Tyrrell’s (Basket Pressed) Johnno’s was a very different wine. Still showing young lemon fruit and with a very pale colour. It was suggested that this wine is made for the long term and bottled with a high level of SO2. The palate was quite youthful, while the pressing has yielded a phenolic edge. A high acid was a little sour on the finish.

The Piemonte Barbera with the main course were again a contrast in styles. The 2016 Massolino was a little reductive early but opened up to reveal its varietal red cherry notes. The palate was fruity and fresh with the typical acidity. Surprisingly there was a dry, grainy tannin grip on the finish.

The 2010 Vigna Marina Coppi was quite developed and had lost much of its varietal fruit. Barbera is probably best appreciated a little younger than this. It was made in a more traditional style with some oak maturation and again firm tannins. Both of these vintages are well regarded in Barolo and would account for the bigger styles of Barbera seen at the lunch. The fruit worked with the fish, but the tannins were too much to go with Peter’s delicious meal.

The cheese wines were a step up in age, intensity, weight and alcohol. The 2008 Oliver’s Taranga HJ Shiraz (named in honour of Henry John Oliver who planted Shiraz in McLaren Vale after returning from WW2) showed ripe, but pure fruit with strong, but high quality, oak notes, turning a little rancio with age. The palate was rich and full flavoured, but just starting to dry out.

The 2008 Kaesler WOMS Barossa Shiraz Cabernet was a very different proposition. The acronym translates to weapon of mass seduction. Given an alcohol of 15.5 plus, perhaps WOMD may have been more appropriate. It showed overripe fruit aromas slathered with oak. The palate was unbalanced with Shiraz jam flavours and a hot alcohol finish. Very much in the Parker style in vogue at the time, and one that still has many fans today.