Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

The room was full for our mixed lunch today with Chef of the Day, former Foodmaster, Greg Sproule in the kitchen providing a Spanish meal.

Canapés

As we’ve seen recently canapés have been bountiful and today was no exception. We began with a Spanish omelette - with Carisma potatoes served on spoons topped with yellow pickled capsicum.

Carisma potatoes have 25% fewer carbs, a lower Gi rating, gluten-free and vegan-friendly. Perfect for mashing, boiling and roasting. Full of flavour.

Next came Spanish green olives and lupin beans. We had to spear them ourselves. what the bean was, kept the room guessing but no one quite got there. Simple and tasty.

Then jambon croquettes with serrano Iberico and bacon. They were deep-fried, not greasy and perfect with our aperitif wine.

To finish our tapas experience Greg served some serrano ham.

Main

Always up for a challenge, Greg presented a ‘Zarzuela de Moriscos’ a shellfish stew from the Catalan coast.

It consisted of green king prawns, monkfish, king dory, mussels, clams, pippies, lobster, vongole, calamari, saffron, paprika, parsley, almond and dill. The mussels and clams were served in the shell.

You may not have got all the ingredients in your serving however you got the lovely flavour profile of the stew.

This was served with a Pipirrana salad, a typical Spanish salad originating from Andalusia. It has numerous variations because each province has a different method of preparation and different ingredients. However, one of the more traditional versions is made with cucumbers, onions, green peppers and tomatoes. Today Greg added quail eggs, fried bread, parsley, sorrel, watercress and en choy (en choy aka amaranth or Chinese spinach). The combination worked well with flavour and texture a highlight,

There were many favourable comments from the room some suggesting a little more seasoning lifted the dish.

Bread today was the Iggy ‘super long’ a lovely crusty white sourdough perfect to mop up the sauce of our main course.

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster James Healey continued the Spanish theme today serving a ‘Merco Mahon Curado’ a hard cow’s milk cheese.

Mahon is the capital of the rocky island of Menorca, the most northerly of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. Cheese has been made on the island since 3000BC. Today, two ancient breeds of dairy cattle, red Menorquin and black/white spotted Frison, graze on dense island grass and are milked on small family ‘fincas’ or farms which total 600 on Menorca.

Traditionally, this cheese was bound in cloth before pressing which is still done on a small scale on the island. A larger proportion of production is now made in a more efficient modern way which uses square moulds instead. The result is a consistent cheese that captures the true essence of the original. The rind is still rubbed with olive oil and paprika which imparts a rusty-orange colour to the exterior.

The wheels are then ripened for a minimum of six months on wooden shelves. When mature or ‘curado’, the cheese maintains a milky character and has developed a nutty flavour and characteristic tangy finish.

Keith Steele again showed his impressive knowledge of cheese correctly guessing the cheese being cows and the country of origin.

A mixed luncheon produced very healthy numbers, with the room near full.  Nice to see the ladies present to witness their menfolk indulge in their dark arts of a Tuesday afternoon.

Wine

Drinks wise we kicked off with a sparkling wine,  which I did not taste.  Quite happy to leave it to those who enjoy bubbles.  The second wine was a 2017 Scorpo Bestia  Pinot Grigio from Mornington.

This was an excellent wine for the pass-arounds.  The wine had a distinctive reddish colour as a result of extended skin contact.  Great flavour,  good balance and a really enjoyable wine. I must get some.

Next on the list of our luncheon wines was Brian Croser’s Tapanappa Tries Chardonnay from 2021.  I hesitate to be critical of a Croser Chardy,  which I have enjoyed on many occasions over the years, especially if like me,  you like his tight, structured disciplined style. This wine however had no appeal to me.  Too acidic with a sharp, unpleasant initial first taste.  Perhaps in 2 to 3 years, it will develop into something more attractive, but today I just did not like it. Happy to suspend final judgement until 2025.

Next cab off the rank was a 2015 Pittnaeur from the Plains of Austria, being a  Blaufrankisch with possibly some other bits and pieces. We had this wine not so long ago and I suspect the acting Winemaster is engaging in some cellar clearouts.  Perfectly sensible. Nothing can be more horrible than having a cellar full of wines well past their best drinking date. I actually really enjoyed this wine, a good food wine with, a nice balance and length. I have from time to time over the years used a Blaufrankisch at my annual masked wine tasting competition, to add a bit of bastardy and humour to the occasion, given that none of the competitors would have heard of or tasted the wine.  When announcing the results, with not one soul picking the wine, I would say something like “ I am surprised none of you recognised wine no 4,  I thought it was a very typical Blaufrankisch. We drink little else around here”, or some similar smart arse remark. At any masked wine event, you have to inject some levity and humour along the way.

The second last wine was a Pagliarese Chianti Classico DOCG from 2014.  A Sangiovese that really packed a punch. Great fruit, It went very well with the cheese at 13%, robust flavours medium red brick colour, elegant and very drinkable. Great choice. 

The final wine was a real, for me,  a real eye-opener and my wine of the day. It was a Glandore Estate Tempranillo 2011 from the Hunter Valley. I have had some Tempranillo from the Hunter but not many. This wine really impressed me, massive colour, inky black and it just about sucked the light out of the room!  But seriously, this was a first-class Temp.  Great balance, with everything coming together to produce a beautiful wine at  13%.  Despite it now being 11 years old, there was no sign of ageing,  just delicious mellow overtones.  I have always enjoyed Rioja Temps and this wine was right up there with their best. The wine was in my view a little thicker and more mouth-filling than its Spanish counterparts which strike me as being somewhat lighter in texture. I understand Society Member David Madson has an interest in the vineyard.  Great to see one of our Society members involved in the production of this high-quality wine.  

Wine Served:  2017 Scorpo Bestia Pinot Grigio, NV Charles de Cazanove Brut tradition Champagne, 2021 Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay, 2015  Pittnaeur Pannobile Blend, 2014 Pagliarese Chianti Classico DOCG, 2011 Glandore TPR Tempranillo, 2014 Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2007 Tyrrells Stevens Vineyard