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

Food

Keith Steele as Chef of the Day got the band back together for his lunch and was assisted by Paul Thorne, David Madson and James Tinslay on canapés.

We celebrated John Rourke’s 85th birthday and his 51st year of membership. John donated two magnums of Lakes Folly and President Bill had invited Stephen Lake along who happened to bring with him a double magnum.

We welcomed a new member to our society today, Chris Wills, and he was presented with a Society bow tie, our history “A Table of Delights” and a Society badge by our president Bill Alexiou.

Canapés

Paul Thorne topped some blinis with white anchovies, sour cream, roasted capers and sashimi grade salmon for those of us that don’t like the acid in the anchovies.

David Madson prepared some smoked trout pâte with home pickled baby cucumber on toasts.

James Tinslay, in theme, made Moroccan sausage rolls with homemade Moroccan tomato sauce and then moist tamarind chicken skewers with homemade chutney.

Plentiful canapés, well commented on by members.

Main

Braised lamb shanks with a Moroccan sauce of stock, celery, carrot, onions and tomato paste. The sauce was reduced and cooked with the lamb shanks.  The meat fell of the bone perfectly cooked with a last addition of chick peas. It sat on silky buttery potato mash perfect to sop the luxurious sauce.

Much praise for the dish today.

Stellar effort chaps, thanks.

Bread today was from Cornucopia at Naremburn a light rye.

Cheese

Keith’s favourite ‘Beaufort’, a raw cow’s milk cheese from the Pyrenees, France.

Famous since Roman times, this huge 40kg cheese is often referred to as the Prince of Gruyere.

Made by Fruiteries Chabert, this family business specialises in cheeses of the Hautes Savoie where the cows are moved to mountain pastures during the summer. Beaufort AOP d’Alpage is only made from raw milk in alpine chalets at more than 1500m, with the milk of a single herd.

This smooth textured cheese has a distinctive concave shape and natural rind. The sweet, nutty, floral flavours highlight the name Alpage reflecting the alpine grass and wildflowers which the cows eat on the high mountain slopes.

Bowls of dried apricot and walnuts accompanied the cheese.

Wine

The theme for today was lamb shanks by Keith Steele. In a word excellent. See food report. The Wine report for today centres upon three magnificent bottles of Lakes Folly Cabernets, very generously donated by John Rourke on his 85th birthday. We started off the day with a Margaret River Chardonnay from Nocturne Wines 2021 13%. This wine took me back to the 80s style Chardy, big blousy, over oaked and just about over everything else. The first sip nearly blew my head off. I have become far too used to the modern style of Chardy, restrained and tight, less oak and less alcohol, and not as sweet as was the Nocturne. This wine was truly Atavistic in its regression to the 1980s but I did not enjoy it. 

Next wine was a Stella Bella Cabernet again from WA. 13%. A big wine, huge fruit and lots of oak and tannin. The wine was an acceptable commercial Cab, but I think it was being drunk a bit too soon. Another few years in the cellar would knock the rough edges off and produce a better result. 

The next bracket of wines was the Lakes Folly Cabernets, two in Magnum (donated by John Rourke) and one in a Jeroboam (donated by Stephen Lake, Max’s son). The vintages ranged from 1985 to 1996. What a treat, thank you guys. All the wines were in great shape and drinking beautifully. All the wines were Cabernet blends and mid-weight with mostly low alcohol, between 12 and 13%, very Bordeaux like. The wines were now quite old, ranging in age from 28 to 39 years old. But in my view, all drinking superbly with no sign of adverse ageing. My pick was the 85, a glorious, aged wine, still in perfect balance. At my table, however, there were many votes for the 1991. Either way, they were all superb. How fortunate were we! There was some talk at my table about one or two of the wines having a trace of ‘brett’, otherwise formally known as brettanomyces, a non-spore forming genus of yeast. So now you know. It is a member of the saccharomycetaceae family. Around our dinner table at home, we discuss little else! Any how this substance which developed during the maturation of wine can in small amounts produce an agreeable flavour, e.g. the ‘sweaty saddle’ of some Hunter reds, but in larger amounts can ruin a wine. If brett was there in some of these wines, it for certain was in very modest amounts. Summary, how fortunate were we! 

The next wine was a Frankland Ridge Syrah 2020 14.5%. A big wine dense purple/black colour with tannin and oak showing. Again, I thought this wine would benefit from more cellar life. All the material is there for a pleasing commercial Syrah in a few years’ time.  

That now brings us to the final wine of the day, another Chardonnay.  This time an American from California, the Wente vineyard Morning Fog Chardy from 2022 13.5%. Today has not been a good day for the famous Chardonnay grape. As with the first wine this one was too big, oaky, alcohol driven and with a sweetness that the Americans seem to demand in most of their wines.  I would be pleased not to come across this wine again. I just cannot go back to this style of Chardonnay again. But to end on a high note, the Lakes Folly was sensational, you are a good man, John Rourke.