Food review by Frank Liesbeskind and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Bill presented a small but noisy group with flavour bombs from the Mediterranean, and certainly no one went home hungry.

Canapes

Bill started with 3 canapes, the first was an excellent charred eggplant slice roll, filled with ricotta, lemon rind and parsley, and even Goldy was seen eating eggplant.

Bill followed that with a touch of Mexico, with a guacamole presented on a corn chip with grilled cherry tomato.

The third canape took us to Italy, with a tomato and basil bruschetta on toasted bread, with garlic clove rubbed on the bread. This one was my favourite, full of flavour and spices.

Main

We certainly weren’t disappointed here, were we transported to a Greek island? I think so, and we enjoyed an octopus dish, typically present in Greece at the beginning of summer (and it is the beginning of summer in Greece now). Bill presented Octopus Stifado, Bill’s version was an excellent Octopus with Orzo Pasta (Manestra). The 8kg of octopus was flavourful, overall, it was soft and succulent, though some pieces were tougher, I asked Bill whether he beat the octopus hard enough on the rocks in true Greek tradition. Another theory is Bill used a male and female octopus, as apparently the female is a softer meat (true Google it, I did).

Bill’s Octopus Stifado comprised onion, sautéed octopus, chill, fennel seeds, garlic, kalamata olive, olive oil, white wine, red wine vinegar, tomatoes and risoni (orzo) pasta. Bill let Amosh add the chilli, and we got a good hit of it too, no one complained.  

Bill told us, the onion, fennel seeds, garlic and chilli were sautéed, then the octopus was added until the water it released evaporated, then deglazed with vinegar and white wine. Once the vinegar and wine evaporated, tomato was added then towards the end the risoni was added and served with a whipped fetta smear (fetta, heavy cream, yoghurt, basil) and a herbed crumb ( toasted panko crumbs, lemon zest, dried herbs) the fetta  smear was designed to cool the heat of the Stifado and the crumb was added for texture, and it worked perfectly.

Cheese

The Cheese Master presented us with a sweet and tasty pecorino, a great example of Tuscan pecorino. This ewe’s milk cheese is from Il forteto (the fort) – a leading producer of PDO cheese in Tuscany. Aged for over four months, the rind develops a burnt golden colour whilst the nutty texture gradually becomes dense and flaky with a slightly sweet finish. Complex flavours of sweet and savoury highlight the quality of this classic cheese.

Just in case we were still hungry, Bill had a charcuterie board of cured meats (pastrami and selected salamis) and pickled vegetables accompany the Italian cheese.

So, today’s lunch certainly hit the mark with the flavours of Greece and Italy.

Wine

Today we enjoyed some very fine wines indeed, except for the canapé wine. We all enjoyed the first three wines on the luncheon list, with an additional two bottles of other wines being provided. I will confine my report to those wines we all consumed. No point in writing about wines that not everybody had.

Dealing with the canapé wine, it was a Firebird Pinot Gris from SA 13% 2024. I actually enjoy a glass of a good PG, but only one, before moving on to something else more appealing, like a Chardonnay or a Riesling. This wine, however, did not fall into the category of PG that I quite like. In a word, it was horrible. It had an unattractive degree of sweetness with a thin mouthfeel and a finish that made you glad you had reached the end. Not enjoyable. Hope I never see it again. 

Anyhow, after that setback, we moved on to three delightful wines, the first of which was the Tyrrells 2019 HVD Sem @ 10.5%. An excellent wine, pale yellow/straw in colour, with a crisp first taste of apple and citrus fruits balanced by gentle acid. The wine had a persistent, clean finish with grassy overtones.  On today's form, the wine will continue to provide great drinking for a decade or more. 

Next in line was the Trott Vineyard Willunga 100, Grenache from Blewitt Springs SA. 2021 @ 14.5%. A seriously good wine, no lightweight, thin, fruit bomb we sometimes see with a Grenache. This wine had substantial body and well-balanced flavours.  Peppery with gentle tannins in the background, great length and a lingering satisfying finish. Fresh and highly enjoyable. 

The third wine was also a beauty, the Kumeu River Ray's Rd Chardonnay 2021. Now with 4 years of bottle age, this wine is really hitting its straps. Lovely quality fruit showing traces of apple, lemon and stone fruits, all combining to produce a mature top-class Chardonnay, rich and supple.  A superbly textured wine. A treat to drink. My pick of the three wines we were all served.   

Our table then had two other wines, the John Duval Entity Shiraz 2015 and an Isole Chianti 2009. Both of which were first rate. I am really developing a strong liking for good Chianti, these wines have come a long way, at least in Australia, from the light, frivolous stuff found in straw-covered bottles hanging from the roof of Italian diners to the very deep, powerful yet elegant Sangiovese we now see as Chianti Classico. The Isole 09 is truly excellent, you can still taste it half an hour later.