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

Food

What a pleasure it is to write the review for Leigh’s fantastic lunch. Merv Peacock and Nigel Burton assisted Leigh in the canape preparation and plating the main.

Leigh prepared flavour bombs today. And a meal worthy of CoTY Cook-off.

Lots of positive feedback from the members, all relished tasting venison again.

Canapes

Leigh did three canapes, the first a tapenade on a cracker, topped with a jalapeno slice and half a black olive, I loved it, and certainly not bland.

Next came guacamole on a corn chip, topped with smoked salmon, pickled red onion and black roe, a crazy combo that really worked, again a flavour bomb.

The third canape was venison sausage (two versions), a home-made fallow deer version and a purchased red deer version. Both topped with eggplant chutney and cornichon. And didn’t it leave a long and delightful taste in the mouth.

All three flavour bombs were well received and I loved them all.

We really need a CoTY prize for canapes, lots of effort and thought (and I’m sure testing), went into these three canapes.

Main

Leigh marinated the (45+) pieces of wild harvested venison in red wine, oil and herbs (lots of rosemary) for over 24 hours, the venison was seared to medium, I was lucky mine med/rare.

Venison was sourced from Alpine Game Meats.

The venison was presented on mashed potato, with crispy perfect green beans drizzled with blue cheese and carrots perfectly done, drizzled with honey. And garnished with thyme.

If the venison wasn’t the hero, certainly the stock reduced to an amazing sauce was the hero. 10kg of bone marrow was placed on the outside BBQ and cooked and reduced with cabernet for 48 hours, then cranberries added for sweetness. Just brilliant, and copious quantities of bread were well used to soak up the sauce, and most plates went back clean as….

Cheese

Leigh accompanied the cheese with sliced apple and sliced pears, and dried apricots and dried figs. The apple and pear balanced off a beautiful French blue.

A beautiful rich salty blue, that was very well received and identified by Paul Dressler.

We had, Bleu d ’Auvergne PDO 2.6kg  wheel.

This PDO cow’s milk cheese has been made in the Auvergne region for several centuries, traditionally matured in mountain caves where the unique blue mould flora flourished. Although no longer cave ripened, PDO regulations still stipulate that cheese must be produced at a minimum 500m altitude, in specific geographical regions and using milk only from cows born in the region. Each whole cheese is foil wrapped to prevent the rind forming and after 3 months maturation, an even spread of steely blue veins spreads through the body of the cheese. Mature cheeses have a moist and slightly crumbly texture with a tart and salty flavour.www.calendarcheese.com.au

Wine

A large turnout, 46 or so gathered for a much anticipated meal of venison presented by Leigh Hall. The lunch was a tremendous success, with all the servings of meat being perfectly cooked. A great effort by Leigh and the REX Kitchen Team. We are so lucky to have Amosh and his team in the kitchen. Read the food report for all details.

With regard to the wines, we were treated to an excellent line-up of modern Grenache assembled by our Winemaster Nick Reynolds. Nick brought together a range of Grenache from vintages that spanned from 2007 to 2023. I may be mistaken, but I think this is the first vertical tasting of Grenache we have done in the Society. All part of our Charter of wine education for our members. 

To begin at the beginning, which is always a good place to start, the history of Grenache in Australia is interesting, and reflective of the changing attitudes to wine over a long period of time and to improvements in wine making practices. Grenache is an important grape worldwide, with its history commencing in either Sardinia or Spain. Today, there are huge amounts of the vine grown in France and Spain and elsewhere.  The grape arrived in Australia in the late 1800s and was widely planted in the warm, dry regions of SA, where it flourished, so much so that it soon became the dominant red wine produced in Australia in terms of output, only overtaken by Shiraz in the 1960s. Until fairly recently, Grenache was mostly used to produce low cost, bulk red wine, fortified wines or as a wine to blend with Shiraz and Mourvèdre, the classic GSM. 

It would be a fair comment to say that until, say, the last 20 years, Grenache was treated with disdain by some of our great wine makers of the past, who regarded it virtually as a weed, and a very poor relative of the more illustrious Shiraz and Cabernet grape varieties. These great old winemakers would be spinning in their graves to learn that a Grenache recently won in August 2025, the James Halliday Trophy for the best red wine with the Thistledown Charming Man Grenache 2024. What, one may ask, is going on here? Were there no Shiraz or Cabernet wines entered?  Now I am aware of the worldwide trend to drink less heavy red wine and to prefer lighter styles, but let's get a grip here, a Grenache the top red wine of the year, "tell 'em they're dreaming!"

Anyhow, leaving that history aside, I now turn my attention to today's wines. Keen followers of my weekly notes will be aware that when dealing with 5 or 6 wines of the same grape, I will not analyse them individually; that is a bridge too far for me, as I run out of interesting things to say after two bottles. So you will get the broadbrush approach to our wines today.  For the canapes, we had a Willunga 2024 Grenache Blanc @ 13%. I liked it. Fresh, unusual, clear and bright with good fruit and a nice crisp finish. So far, all good. We then moved to the bracket of six Grenache reds, which varied in colour from light cherry red (the Willunga 100) to the dark red, inky blackness of the Swinney and the Clarendon Hills. The wines were all high in alcohol, 14 to 15%, and all had that classic Grenache combination of light to medium texture, raspberry and spice, tannin and high acid. 

I found it hard to select a favourite, but I think the Sardinian wine got my vote, the Sardegna. Enough alcohol to start a fire 15%, I found the wine most enjoyable, medium to full texture, strong flavours, rich red fruits, spicy and juicy. Despite the high alcohol, I thought the wine was still in balance and finished with a warm, dry aftertaste.  Second place for me was the Willunga 100 2023 @ 14.5%. Probably the lightest in colour of the group, I thought the wine full of flavours of cherry, strawberry and red currant. Tangy and vibrant, it was nonetheless quite elegant and in good balance. My third place getter was the Clarendon Hills 2010, a complex wine, full of dark fruit flavours with noticeable oak treatment. Perhaps slightly out of balance due to the high alcohol?? 14.5%

Probably drinking well past its prime, but still enjoyable in a diminished capacity. Many thanks to our Winemaster for collating this wide-ranging selection of Grenache that has reinvented itself.