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

Food

Near full house bookings for our wine tasting lunch today with yours truly in the kitchen assisted by Jonathan Casson, Gary Linnane, James Tinslay and Chilly Hargrave.

Canapés

Jonathan Casson was up first with bocconcini stuffed tomatoes topped with pesto. Good balance of acid from the tomato with the creaminess of cheese with the rich pesto.

Gray Linanne made some sardine rillettes topped with some sliced green onion sitting on a Ritz biscuit. The rillettes were made with canned sardines, cream cheese, shallots, green onions, and lime juice. Lots of flavour and finished with cayenne leaving some residual heat on the palate.

Who doesn’t like sausage rolls? We all do and thanks James Tinslay for making 120 today …beef and chicken, shredded carrot and pine nuts. James’ has a secret recipe in that he can’t remember everything he puts into the mix each is then different. A lot of work goes into making the rolls initial chopping, dicing and mincing the day before. Then on the day cutting and baking the individual pieces. James made a delicious tomato sauce of passata, cumin, fried onion, garlic, Middle Eastern spice mix and porcini to dunk our rolls.

Main

Lamb back strap cap on with potato mash and sautéed Brussels Sprouts. A simple dish with the fat adding flavour. The back straps were scored and then seared on the stovetop till crusty.

They were then poached in beef stock with seasoning, thyme and garlic. The lamb fat infused the stock which was then reduced over heat after removing the lamb pieces.

The lamb was pink and moist and sat on a potato mash of cream and butter. The seasoned sprouts were chopped and then sautéed in butter. One member has remarked on the subtle introduction of ‘dreaded’ sprouts into our lunches over a period of time.

The lamb was a good match for today's Cabernet tasting.

Cheese

Cheesemaster Mark Bradford presented a French goat’s milk cheese today. This was requested by our yours truly and it came to the table running off the cheeseboard. D’ affinois de brebis fromagerie guilloteau.

It comes in 1kg wheels, is around 6-8 weeks old is an extremely well-priced cheese for the quality that is delivered.

This cheese is made by Fromagerie Guilloteau near Pelussin in the Rhone Valley. This cheese utilises ultra-filtration techniques and modern lactic fermentation techniques to boost the protein and calcium levels in the curd. Made with added cream and ripened for three weeks under a thin white mould rind covering the cheese and gradually develops a mild and rich texture that is savoury, building complexity. These modern lactic fermentation techniques boost the protein and calcium levels, it had a good sharp finish.

Chilly Hargrave made the cheese accompaniment a layered salad of rocket, beetroot, segmented blood orange topped with sliced shallot and a balsamic dressing. A good balance of flavours from the individual components and taste went perfectly with the cheese.

Wine

Let me preface my report on Tuesday’s lunch by saying that our Wine Master Nick Reynolds seems intent on robbing me of the chance to have fun with some of the wines on display at our previous lunches. Instead of being able to heap ridicule upon some poor hopeless joke of a wine and provide a few laughs for the members, over the past few months, there has been nothing I could even raise a sarcastic laugh about, or send to the Naughty Corner for the day! Nick, what are you doing? Readers of my reports in the last few months must be wondering if I have lost my sense of humour and mischief.

The answer is, of course, I have had no material to work with. Nick continues to provide a flawless selection of aperitif and main course whites and reds, all with one or two minor exceptions, uniformly excellent. Dear members, do not give up hope for any comic relief, I have the humour radar set on high alert and I am sure before too long something will come our way. Watch this space.

Dealing now with the wines for today, we had two whites to start, a 2005 Tyrrells HVD Sem, 11.5% screw cap and a 2006 Leo Buring Leonay Riesling. Also, screw cap. What a way to start! Can it get any better from here?  Suffice to say the Tyrrells was my wine of the day. Despite now 18 yo, the wine was fresh, clear and in pristine condition. All that epitomises a great Hunter aged Sem.

The Burings was a delight also, great fruit/acid combo, drinking beautifully, but not one to hold onto for much longer. These two beautiful wines show the advantage of the screw cap seal over cork. Don’t whatever you do run this line in Spain! You’ll be dismissed as an ignorant colonial and risk deportation.

Now onto the main course wines of which we had six, in brackets of two. We started with some Italian wine, a Poggio al Tesoro 2010, a Syrah/Cab Merlot blend. Delicious, plummy, mouth-filling palate, medium weight, a good food wine, generally well received.

I did however prefer the second Italian, the Argiano Solengo 2008. I enjoyed this wine, again a Cab blend with Merlot, some Sangiovese and Petit Verdot. Reads almost like a Bordeaux. The wine had a good balance between tannin and fruit. A lovely lingering meaty finish with distinctive Italian flavours. Left a good impression. My second favourite of the day. I must point out that this wine received mixed reviews around the room. My table and some others I spoke to really liked it, other tables were less than impressed. It may well have a case of some bottle variation, which is unfortunate but it happens.

The next bracket consisted of two St Emilion from excellent years 2010 and 2009, both from the fine producer Ch La Serre. These wines were mainly Merlot with 20% Cab Franc. Both were delicious, big plummy Merlot fruit with a very dry finish, with some tannin noticeable in both. Hard to tell them apart, but I think the 2010 just had the edge in elegance.

The final group was the Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernets. Now I must declare my hand here, I have never met a 407 I have liked!  Give me any of the Penfolds Bin number reds over 407.

I have always found the style quite lacking in Cabernet character, with no luscious berry fruit on the mid-palate and little overall flavour. If Penfolds were intending to create a midpoint up the scale to Bin 707 in terms of Cabernet excellence, they have in my view failed with 407, not even in the same Post Code.

Having got that off my chest, I must say that today I found the 2004 quite drinkable, It did have some detectable Cab overtones! The 96 was in my view past its peak, which is hardly a surprise given it is now a 27 yo wine. John Howard had just become our new PM after Hawke!  It’s been a long time for this wine to be keeping up appearances.