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

Food

Full house for our mixed lunch today with our president Bill Alexiou-Hucker in the kitchen assisted by his friend Voula Price.

Canapés aplenty!

We never go home hungry when Bill cooks, and today was no exception.

A new interpretation of Spanakopita…made as a Frittata minus filo pastry… yum!

Smoked salmon with cream cheese on toasts or cucumber.

Keftedes (pork and beef mince grated with tomatoes onion and mint) and tzatziki.

But wait there’s more, entrees served alternatively.

Octopus terrine with Greek salad. The terrine was made with gelatine using a stock of tomatoes, carrot and celery. Very tender octopus.

Seared Scallops served on homemade taramasalata alongside pea and avocado salad.

Main

Modern Moussaka- all the ingredients usually seen in Moussaka just deconstructed!

Perfectly cooked rack of lamb that sat on a tasty tomato salsa, accompanied by grilled eggplant, chicory and a light potato mash.

Comments from the room reflected the appreciation of members and guests today for the quality and effort we saw in today’s meal.

‘Sas efcharisto’ Bill and Voula.

Dessert

We gave our Cheesemaster a day away from normal duties as we had a delicious tart made with Gorgonzola dolce, honey and pear on puffed pastry to finish our meal.

Koulouria (Greek Easter cakes) were served with our coffee.

Stephen Lake, son of Max Lake, was a guest of our Society today.

He wore an André Simon silver medal posthumously awarded to Max by the International Wine and Food Society.

Wine

A very healthy turnout 50+ enjoyed a fine lunch created by our own Greek MasterChef Bill Alexiou. We were indulged with a three-course meal complete with a printed menu!!  See the food report about Bill's excellent Greek-themed lunch. The aperitif wines were a Chardonnay and a French fizz, Henri Laurent NV. The Chardy was a Kumeu River Village, vintage 2022. I really enjoyed this wine, very easy drinking, balanced and full of stone fruit flavours with a clean finish. An excellent wine to enjoy with the delightful pass-arounds. This wine is extremely good value for a commercial style Chardonnay. The Fizz I thought was drinking well enough for what it was, an entry level Champagne at an entry level price I assume. I heard some grumbles around the room about the wine being either too sweet or too acidic, but let's get a grip here, we are having an inexpensive glass of bubbles and we get what we paid for. I thought the wine was quite reasonable for what it was, namely something to go with food and a drink that all the ladies seemed to enjoy.

We then moved on to the entree, a delightful Greek salad with cold octopus. Wonderful! The wine for this dish was one I had never seen before, a White Grenache from the Catalan region of Spain. Serra/Barcelo Aucala 2022 14%. Our Winemaster is keen on introducing us to wines most of us have not met before.  Overall impression, quite acceptable, a good food wine. Very restrained in terms of flavour, but mouth filling. The taste was hard to identify, with hints of citrus with a rich opulent finish.  I felt this wine is truly a food wine given its dry texture and subdued flavours.  It is well worth the venture into something untried before. 

For the main, we enjoyed a perfect rack of lamb which was partnered up with a Hentley Farm Grenache 2022 14.5%. This highly respected vineyard produces some beautiful red wines from its Barossa vineyards, this wine was a classic modern style Grenache, light in structure, high alcohol and an exploding mouth feel of sweet strawberry, with lots of tannin and peppery spice. The wine was a perfect foil for the lamb. A real food wine, not one to be mulled over and over and analysed, just drink it, enjoy it for what it is, a youthful wine, full of joy and exotic flavours, a real fruit bomb! 

The dessert consisted of a fabulous blue cheese, Gorgonzola, and pear flan, cooked in the oven and served. Simply wonderful. We were really indulged today, we never get dessert, must be the influence of the ladies. To go with the dessert, we had two Sauternes Ch La Rame 2011 13% and a Ch Miselle 2017 13.5%. Both were perfect with the sweet dish as a good sauterne would be. Of the two I preferred the Ch La Rame, superb drinking now and for many more years.  Great balance, lush flavours, superb finish that lingered. A wonderful wine. The Miselle I thought was being drunk too soon, only 6 yo. Needs more bottle age, as the structures are all there for a great wine when a few more years will see it round out. At the moment it just does not have the intensity of the much older La Rame. 

All around a great afternoon, many thanks to all who made it happen with such style.