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

Food

Our favourite American, Scott Witt, was in the kitchen as Chef of the Day cooking an American-themed lunch. Scott announced most people celebrate Independence Day in the States with a bbq.

Canapés

First up Buffalo chicken wings with a blue cheese dipping sauce.

Scott had deboned the wings to make them easier to eat as finger food and the wings were coated with a sauce of butter hot sauce and red pepper.  A good spice finish on the palate.

The first plate of wings was served in 1964 at a family-owned establishment in Buffalo called the Anchor Bar. The wings were the brainchild of Teressa Bellissimo, who covered them in her own special sauce and served them with a side of blue cheese and celery because that’s what she had available.

“Pigs in blankets” followed, perfect sized cocktail frankfurts baked with puffed pastry and a typical yellow American mustard.

Lastly ‘crab cakes’ Scott has cooked these before and, as Roger said, these are the best version we’ve been lucky enough to have.

Canapés were bountiful and very favourably commented on by members today.

Main

With a bbq theme, what could be more representative of American cuisine than ribs.

Marinated overnight then cooked at 10:30 am in a warm oven then finished at a high heat. There was some delay in the service and some variation in the doneness of the ribs. Scott kept it simple.

ribs on the plate and perfectly cooked buttered corn cob and a potato salad that had to have some bacon.

A lot of effort and thought was evident in today’s meal, thanks Scott.

Cheese

In theme, our Cheese Master Mark Bradford presented a cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made in the tradition of alpine cheeses by Uplands Cheese, a family run dairy and cheese making facility located on ‘Pleasant Ridge’ in southwestern Wisconsin. The cheese is only made between May and October, while the cows are grazing on fresh pastures. The grass-fed milk produces flavour complexity in cheese that can’t be replicated when cows are eating machine-harvested feed. The flavours of Pleasant Ridge Reserve are reminiscent of another alpine classic – Beaufort, with hints of caramel and salt, together with complex layers of grass and flora.

Scott presented this with mixed nuts and some drier-style dates. A good match.

Society coffee today with some handmade chocolate mixed with 1962 Bas Armagnac. Special!

Wine

American Independence Day saw us off on a journey from the USA to NZ, then back to Australia. There were some interesting wines sampled along the way with quality selections by our Winemaster. We kicked off with a Kumeu River Chardonnay 2022 from NZ. A very reasonable entry level Chardy, their Village wine, with their Estate wine being the top level. I found the wine to be quite reasonable, bearing in mind that it does not profess to be more than a well priced commercial Chardy without any great pretence. Certainly no obvious wine making faults, good fruit and acid with restrained oak influence. Acceptable as an aperitif, but somewhat on the uninteresting side. The second wine was a Frankland River Isolation Ridge Riesling 2017. A soundly made WA Riesling with good balance between acid and fruit. At the time I was drinking this wine, I felt quite content, that is until I tasted the following wine.

Not recorded on the programme, but produced towards the end of the aperitifs, was a Pikes Clare Valley Riesling 2010. Wow, what a wine!  Despite being 7 years older than the WA Riesling, the Pikes was much fresher on the palate, with a lingering crisp finish, with excellent balance. My favourite wine of the day, hope we have some more in the cellar.

Jetting back to the USA, the first American wine on the list was a Kendall Jackson Santa Barbera Reserve Chardy 2020. A very big wine, 14.5%, with huge ripe fruit and excessive oak. Sweet butterscotch overtones, all in all, a real handful. This must be the way Americans like their Chardys, as Kendall Jackson is a huge producer. To my taste, the wine was out of balance, too oaky and sweet. Happy to leave it to the Americans.

The first red of the day was another Kendall Jackson wine a 2019 Cabernet from the Sonoma Region. Another big wine at 14.5%. I felt that we were not doing any favours to this wine drinking it now, as it was very young and needed another 3 to 4 years in the bottle before hitting its straps. Clear potential as the quality structures were there. Hopefully to be revisited in say 2026/27. Will by then be likened to a quality MR Cab.

The final red on the official programme was a Fraser Gallop MR Cabernet 2012. A very appealing wine indeed. A Bordeaux style, mainly Cabernet with some Petit Verdot and Merlot thrown in. Drinking now as an 11yo, the wine was fully mature, with lovely integrated fruit, oak and tannin. Rich and full bodied, plenty of time ahead of it. A delight.

There were some other red wines served, our table had a Blue Pyrenees which was quite acceptable, however, I do not think it very profitable to discuss a wine in detail that only some of the room actually tasted.