Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Becoming a tradition, former President, Chef of the Year and Alexiou Trophy winner Peter Kelso was in the kitchen for the first Society Wine Lunch for the year today. Peter was presenting duck, always a society favourite.  Paul Thorne assisted Peter with the canapés. Despite being the funeral today of wine icon and longstanding Society member Ray Kidd, who passed away on 14 February aged 98, the numbers for lunch were good.

Canapés

First to appear was Peter’s daikon patty, accompanied with a miso mayo dipping sauce. Plenty of serves - to appear at least twice - and a good match with the NZ Chardonnay accompanying the pass arounds.

The next was Paul’s blinis. These were topped with crème fraiche, mixed with wasabi and lemon juice with a fresh white anchovy on the top.  Again, good with the chardonnay.

Main

Today’s duck was a Maryland, roasted with potatoes and served with an orange-based sauce with pan residue.  This was accompanied by a bitter leaf salad that was lightly dressed.  Favourable comments from the floor, noting the benign flavours with the semillons and reds alike.

Cheese

The Cheese Master presented a King River Gold log, a washed rind cheese from the Milawa region in Northeastern Victoria, renowned for its wine, produce and snowfields. Inspired by European methods, this surface-ripened cheese is regularly washed with a brine solution and matured in the former butter making room. The microflora there, combined with that of the local vineyards, imparts a slightly yeasty character, lingering savouriness with nutty notes and creamy texture.  Peter accompanied the cheese with pears and toasted walnuts.  Comments were favourable for this excellent Australian washed rind.

Wine

Today was the Festival of Tyrrells, save for an interloper from NZ. It was a wonderful chance to indulge with some of Tyrrells jewels from the Hunter ranging from 2006 to 2018 vintages. A rare treat, thanks to Nick Reynolds for his work in putting the show together. 

The interloper was the aperitif wine a 2022 Kumeu River Chardy from NZ.  An entry level Chardy, second behind their premium and more expensive Estate Chardy. With that in mind, the wine presented as a sensible, affordable drink to go with the pass arounds. Now 3 years old the wine showed some pleasant aspects, clean and crisp on the palate. Restrained stone fruit on the mid palate. I think the trick is to not expect too much from wines in this "good value" category. Just accept the wine for what it is, a drinkable, commercial Chardy to drink with the pass arounds, before moving on to the quality stuff. 

We then moved onto the wines forming the Festival of Tyrrells. six of their best and fairest spanning 19 Vintages. 3 Semillon, and 3 Shiraz. Dear reader, please note that of these 6 wines 4 were from vintages that rated 10/10, according to Langtons. 

I’m not going to examine each of the wines in detail, as frankly reviewing wines of the same variety is a challenge to say something different about each wine. Not like comparing a Malbec and a Sav Blanc!

Dealing with the whites first, they were all in great shape and testimony to the Hunter's ability to produce Semillon that is virtually bullet proof. None of the wines showed any sign of age and will seemingly go on forever. Of the three, my pick was the 06. Still gleaming and bright, showing all the classic Hunter aged Semillon features, waxy, lanolin and toasty. The 17 and the 15 are brilliant wines still going thru the development process. Great expectations are in store. The 3 reds on display were the 2018 4 Acres, the 2018 Vat 9 and the 2014 Johnno's, all straight Shiraz. Three terrific wines, hard to select a favourite.  The 4 Acres came from a vineyard planted in 1879, one of the oldest in the Hunter. A medium to lightish weight wine, very typical Hunter Shiraz. Great fruit, well balanced, delightful, a joy to drink, strong fruit, great finish.

From the same year the Vat 9 was a softer style of wine, medium body, very elegant, superb integration of oak/tannin/acid. 

Now at 7 years post vintage the wine has huge potential to develop into a Hunter classic. All the structures are in place. 

My pick of the trio was the 2014 Johnno's, from a vineyard planted in 1908. Regarded by many as the best vintage for decades in the Hunter, the wine just exuded class from the outset. A bigger wine than the other two, clearly denser with more body. 

Wonderful fruit, perfect balance, everything in harmony. Drinking now as a 11 year old, one can only see a virtually unlimited future of wonderful drinking ahead. Would love to see this wine in say 10 years time. I'd put my house on the wine still being magnificent. 

In summary, a rare treat, we are indeed fortunate.