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L36 Simon Poole - A Taste of the Eastern Mediterranean
Wine report by Stephen O'Halloran
Today’s lunch was a creation by Simon Poole, a first-time chef at the WFS. Congratulations, & please do it again sometime soon! Simon’s dish was a Middle Eastern chicken offering with pearl couscous & a delightful Turkish tomato salad, which was excellent. Canapés were very tasty as well. See food report.
We started off with a Tyrrell’s HVD Sem 2023 @ 11.6%. Perfection for the canapés. I thought this was a very well-made wine, with only three years of bottle age, just a baby, but drinking so well.
Boisterous fruit, powerful Sem flavours but balanced by plenty of acid, an excellent finish, crisp & clean. A top young Sem. Tyrrell’s have very definitely made their Sems over the last few years in a different style to years before, much more approachable when young.
First of the lunch wines was the Giant Steps 2021 Yarra Valley Chardy @ 13% from the Sexton Vineyard. This winery has produced some great wines over the last few years under the guidance of Winemaker of the Year in 2025, Steve Flamsteed, & his talented team. This wine is a worthy example of their skills.
The first taste revealed a wine redolent with stone fruits, peaches & nectarines, with vibrant acidity producing a finish that lingered with high-class Chardy flavours. An ideal wine for a plate of chilled melon & prosciutto on a hot day at an outdoor restaurant. Bellissimo!
Wine 2 was the renowned Morgon Beaujolais Corcelette from Daniel Bouland 2023 @ 14%. What a great wine! We have had this wine on occasions in the past & it has never failed to impress. No flim-flam, light plaything as many Beaujolais are; this is a serious wine deserving to be savoured. A great match with the chicken main.
To me, the wine was exotic, rich & juicy, with earthy complexities, succulent & alluring. A delight to the last drop.
The Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge 2020 was wine 3 today. A big Syrah @ 14.5%, with lots of flavours of pepper, spice & black fruits. Well-balanced oak & tannin integrate to create a supple, full-flavoured wine, now approaching its maximum maturity period, which should continue for some years yet.
Putting aside for the moment my lack of enthusiasm for WA Shiraz, the wine was very drinkable, without rising to any great heights.
Final wine was the esteemed Lindeman’s 2008 St George Cab @ 14%. Without doubt, one of our favourites at the Society. Huge black/purple colour, near opaque, with powerful flavours of cassis & leather, and hints of cherry & cedar.
A muscular wine, well balanced by excellent tannin & oak handling. Still some acid at the finish to help it along to a satisfying back-palate sensation. Intense & lingering all the way through.
Very enjoyable now & hopefully for another few years, although I did detect a trace of a slow decline, hardly surprising for an 18-year-old wine.
My pick of the day, the Morgon.
Food report by Mark Bradford
A warmish spring day greeted our Tuesday arrival at the REX, as did the prospect of a lunch prepared by first-time chef Simon Poole. We were not disappointed. A fairly new member of the Society, Simon presented a comprehensive Eastern Mediterranean lunch, all on his own.
Three delightful offerings accompanied the Tyrrell’s HVD Semillon.
First came hummus on cucumber slices, topped with raisins and flaked almonds. The hummus was homemade at Sonia’s International Food and Sweets in Willoughby, and the raisins had been lightly fried in coconut oil to caramelise them slightly. A sprinkle of paprika finished the dish. Simon noted that Sonia’s is the best place on the North Shore for Middle Eastern ingredients.
Next was Baba Ganoush on lavosh crackers, topped with semi-roasted tomatoes. The Baba Ganoush, also from Sonia’s, was homemade. The tomatoes were roasted with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then scattered with thyme leaves.
The final canapé was pickled watermelon with feta. The watermelon had been marinated in white wine, honey and chilli, with a coriander leaf adding a touch of colour. A dusting of sumac completed the dish.
The canapés were light and tasty, and they flew off the plate. One member observed that, being bite-sized, they left nothing for the REX staff to tackle with a broom afterwards. Their vivid colours were also notable, enhancing the overall experience.
The main was a Persian-style chicken tray bake with pearl couscous. The chicken Marylands were marinated overnight in paprika, EVOO, honey, sherry vinegar, red onions, marinated capsicum and currants, then oven-baked. They were served on pearl (or Israeli) couscous cooked in chicken stock and the reserved marinade, and dressed at plating with a mix of pistachios, green olives, dill, mint, parsley and lemon juice.
A side dish was a Turkish tomato salad (Gavurdağı Salatası) of tomatoes, green pepper, white onion and Lebanese cucumber. It was dressed with EVOO, pomegranate molasses, sumac and salt, and topped with chopped parsley and walnuts.
Comments from the floor were very favourable, and once again, the colours of the ingredients were eye-catching.
The Cheese Master sourced two chèvres today.
From the Mornington Peninsula and relatively new to the market, Capony is a semi-hard goat’s milk cheese from Main Ridge Dairy. This micro-dairy handcrafts a range of farmhouse goat’s milk cheeses from a small herd of Saanen and Toggenburg goats. The goats graze on the gently sloping hills around the dairy and are milked twice a day, with the milk travelling only a short distance to be transformed into cheese.
Selected cultures are used, and before the bacteria can create too much acidity, the curds are washed with purified rainwater. This retains the milk’s natural sweetness, and the resulting caramel flavour complements the delicate goat’s milk and smooth texture of this porcelain-white cheese.
The Persillé de Chèvre is well known and liked at the Society. An unusual blue goat’s milk farmhouse cheese from France, it is made by Ferme de la Tremblaye, south-west of Paris, which produces a range of goat’s and cow’s milk cheeses. With a focus on environmental responsibility, the B Corp-certified farm has adopted an agroecology model of sustainable farming that works with nature.
The cheese is dense and creamy, with a distinct ash coating, and its deep blue veins make a striking contrast with the white paste. The flavour is mild and savoury.
Simon crafted an excellent accompaniment for the two cheeses: fresh pears and Medjool dates, halved, seasoned and marinated overnight in EVOO and sherry vinegar, with chopped preserved lemons, Aleppo pepper, thyme and rosemary.
Today’s bread was a sourdough from Le 76 Patisserie in Neutral Bay.
Congratulations, Simon! Much thought and effort went into today’s meal and, most importantly, it seemed that you enjoyed the work. The members certainly enjoyed the fruits of your labour.
L35 – Rob Guthrie Cooks for the Society at Our Special ‘Septmember’ Wine Lunch
Presidents remarks
An excellent roll-up of 45+ combined with some top wines & delicious food made for a great afternoon. A tried & tested formula, always works. Many thanks to all involved, with a special thanks to Rob Gutherie, who stepped in at short notice.
Our canapé wine was the Bichot Mâcon Chardonnay 2020 @ 13%. A very drinkable canapé wine, a village wine as the French would say, enjoyable without rising to any great height, as you would expect from an entry-level wine.
The lunch wines were all Cabernets, all six of them. Readers of my wine reports over the years will know that I am very averse to reviewing multiple bottles of the same grape variety. After two or three bottles I have run out of interesting or funny things to say, & I am crying out for a Riesling or Sémillon to review.
In any event, those at the lunch had the benefit of a printout prepared by Acting Wine Master Steve Liebeskind, providing individual assessments. Well done Steve.
That said, I really enjoyed the line-up of the six Cabernets, with the exception of the ’05 Houghton’s.
21 years was a stretch too far for this wine, although some in the room disagreed. Fine, they were welcome to drink mine.
The colour was OK, but the nose was dank, revealing a flat & exhausted wine on the palate. A poor end to a multi-award-winning wine back in the day, but now another sad victim of excess time in the cellar.
As to the rest, they were all, in my view, top-notch wines, very typical of quality Cabernet.
My pick of the bunch was the Bel Air from Graves, a Merlot, Cabernet, Cab Franc blend @ 13% from the year 2008, a reasonable vintage in that district.
A wine with that priceless Bordeaux aroma of cigar box & leather, deeply coloured with an elegant finish. The sort of wine one would be happy to just sniff all afternoon. The odd sip now & then. The sort of wine from which romances can develop!
The remaining wines were all Cabs from different areas & vintages. The Juniper Estate & the Leeuwin Art Series were Margaret River wines. Both high-quality, typical classy MR products, my preferred district for Australian Cabernet, very often Bordeaux-like.
My fav was the Juniper, with an exotic range of flavours, a lovely wine. Several in the room expressed a preference for the Leeuwin, a tough choice!
The remaining Australian wine was the Houghton’s 2008 Gladstone @ 14%, a beauty. Supple, exquisite & stylish.
The wine bears the name of the famous viticulturist Dr John Gladstone, who spent years in WA undertaking painstaking research in the ’50s & early ’60s to determine the best region for fine wine production. The answer was MR.
This was a lovely wine, a credit to his work.
First of the French wines was the Ch Serilhana 2016 vintage from St Estèphe @ 14%. A Cab Merlot blend. Deeply coloured, black/purple, nearly opaque, with powerful & rich black fruits & plum hints. A mouth-filling wine, in my view bigger than the average Bordeaux.
Enjoyable, but I personally preferred the Bel Air, a touch more elegant & complex.
My pick of the litter, the Bel Air.
Food report by James Hill
Canapés
With assistance from Denis Redfern and Julian Parmegiani.
First up, Rob with some mini prawn cocktails in homemade taco shells and Marie Rose sauce, topped with chives.
Then followed Julian Parmegiani, dishing out lupin beans in brine. They were served in small cups with instructions on how to eat them. Lupins are high-protein yellow legume seeds traditionally eaten in the Mediterranean basin. First time served at our Society, in my recollection.
Denis Redfern assisted with meatballs and a piquant dipping sauce. The meatballs were moist, very tasty, with a little heat.
Main
Confit duck legs with pea purée, duck fat potatoes and a blood orange sauce.
Our Royal Exchange kitchen brigade prepared the duck confit today, with Rob adding the perfect sides: duck fat potatoes, pea purée and the blood orange sauce.
Perfectly executed, highlighting flavour and textures, with the blood orange sauce adding some good acid balance to the duck.
All aspects of today’s lunch greatly appreciated and commented on by members.
Bread: a multigrain sourdough from Organic Bread Bar, Paddington.
Cheese
Mark Bradford had selected an English cow’s milk cheddar for our enjoyment today: ‘Ford Farm Cave Aged Cheddar’.
These cloth-wrapped cheddars are made by Ford Farm at their Ashley Chase Estate in West Dorset before being transported to limestone caverns in the village of Wookey Hole for maturation. The constant cool temperature and high humidity of the cave provide an ideal environment for the cheeses to develop a modern cheddar flavour profile that is fruity with a hint of sweetness. A very good match for the wines on taste today.
Denis Redfern accompanied the cheese with a well-dressed salad of rocket, apple, pears and raisins.
L34 Steve puts on a show with his Venison
A decent roll-up of 30+ were treated to a great afternoon of fine wine & delicious food. Steve Sparks was at his best with some roasted venison. Canapés & cheese were excellent. See full food report for details.
The canapé wine was a ring-in, as the advertised wine, the Drumborg Riesling, went missing — a great pity as it is one of my favourite white wines. Tears. Getting over the hill of my disappointment, I quite enjoyed the replacement, a Seppelt Drumborg Chardonnay 2016 @ 12.5%.
A good commercial style of Chardy, but not as engaging as the Riesling, which I find exceptional. In any event, the Chardy was a well-made wine, no obvious faults, a good partner for the pass-arounds, but not rising to any great heights.
The first lunch wine was a Clarendon Hills Grenache 2010 @ 14.5%. A top Grenache from Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale. Vines planted in 1920, dry grown, now a fully developed wine. Powerful Grenache flavours of raspberry & plum, deeply coloured for a Grenache, with plenty of acid & tannin to drive a satisfying finish. Drinking beautifully now, but perhaps not to be kept for too much longer.
Second lunch wine was a beauty, a John Duval GSM from 2014 @ 14.5%. 47% Shiraz, 32% Grenache & 21% Mourvèdre. A rich, complex wine from one of our top winemakers. A wine styled in the classic Rhône fashion, bursting with flavours of black fruits & cherry. Velvety smooth mouthfeel. Great balance. Now fully matured, a joy to drink.
Third lunch wine was the Oakridge Hazeldene Pinot 2022 @ 13%. A vivacious, bright cherry-red Pinot, brimming with sweet, delicious fruit. A wine from the cooler regions of the Yarra Valley. A much more powerful Pinot than the average Australian Pinot, with generous, complex flavours of sweet fruit, strawberries & raspberry. Excellent balance & finish. Plenty of time to go. A most enjoyable wine.
Final wine was the Uccelliera Rapace Super Tuscan, 70% Sangiovese, 20% Merlot & 10% Cabernet @ 14.5%. The first two bottles threw a scare into us, as the aroma was suspect. Initial tasting indicated the wine was of borderline quality, so the first two were rejected. The remaining bottles were in good shape.
A big, deeply coloured wine, near black, showing some earthiness on the palate. Rich & soft, with firm tannins right through to the finish. An excellent pairing with the superb cheese provided by Mark Bradford. Another top-quality wine on a day when all of the Reds were, in my view, first class.
My pick of the day, the Duval GSM.
A somewhat wintry late September day greeted us for a lunch presented by a Society favourite chef of the day, Mr Steve Sparkes. A treat in store for us, with Steve presenting venison, a protein seldom served at the Society. Assisting Steve with canapés were Gary Doherty and James Tinslay.
We started off with James’ signature pass-around, delightful mouth-sized sausage rolls. Who doesn’t like a sausage roll? James used home-ground brisket beef mince and chicken mince, 70–30 percent. Added to this were carrot, onion, garlic, panko, pine nuts, dried sultanas, cinnamon, Moroccan spice mix and ginger.
Gary, helping with canapés again, served basil, bocconcini and tomato on toothpicks. A Calabrese bite without the balsamic. The colours of Bandiera Italiana.
Steve finished us off with a pastry cup of diced, roasted smoked-chilli chicken in mayo, and a chive dressing with Brie and cranberry sauce.
Much praise in the room for these tasty morsels.
Much like beef, lamb and pork, venison is characterised by cuts, including roast, sirloin, ribs and backstrap, which was Steve’s choice for baking. The backstrap was served with fondant potato, corn soubise and a sauté of charred corn, snow peas and black garlic. The sauce to accompany was a classic bordelaise style using red wine and Madeira, with rich chicken and venison stocks.
A wonderful offering today, with flattering comments around the room.
The Cheese Master served a Heidi Farm Tilsit, from Burnie in northern Tasmania. A first time for many, comments on this Australian cheese were highly favourable.
Whilst Tilsit is traditionally served at breakfast alongside rye bread in European households, in Australia it is enjoyed as a table cheese at any time of the day. Frank and Elizabeth Marchand, originally from Switzerland, set up their dairy in the 1980s in Tasmania using locally sourced milk. Regular washing during its three-month maturation encourages Brevibacterium linens to grow on the rind, creating a distinctive yeasty, beer-like aroma.
This semi-hard cheese has a supple-textured paste and a rich, savoury flavour with hints of butter and a distinctive nutty overtone, while having excellent melting qualities.
Steve prepared a memorable accompaniment for this cheese, including mixed green salad, a mung bean mix, preserved cumquats, as well as a fig and pomegranate jam.
Bread today was a white sourdough from Bourke Street Bakery.
L33 James Hill cooks up a storm for a full house at our September mixed lunch
Today we had one of our regular mixed lunches with members of the Ladies WFS. I think it is fair to say a jolly old time was had by all. 50+ turned up, creating a great atmosphere in the room, with lots of positive energy. James Hill was at his usual top form in serving a delicious Catalan-style roast chicken, accompanied by some delicious Canapés, especially the soup by Miles Hedge. The whole meal was wonderful & plenty of it.
We got the party started for the Ladies with what women seem to like best, some Bubbles. Chilly Hargraves’s Bernard Bremont NV Champagne just hit the spot, crisp, plenty of flavour with fine, tiny bubbles, indicative of a quality Champagne. Great with the Canapés.
First Lunch wine was the Curley Flat Pinot Noir 2016 @ 13.7%. I really liked this wine from the cool climate Macedon Ranges of Vic. Medium to fuller body for a Pinot, deep red brick colour, with some quality complex flavours, quite developed, strawberry & plum hints. Some lovely, well-integrated oaky & tannin mouthfeel. A persistent, enjoyable finish. Nice wine. Great with the meal.
Number 2 wine was a Chardonnay, the Helen’s Hill Empress from 2023 @ 13%. A wine sourced from Yarra Valley fruit. I found this wine to be somewhat confronting with its power & intensity. Very rich, flavours of stone fruits, peaches mainly, verging on being overpowering.
Perhaps I have become accustomed to the leaner, more restrained Chardonnays made nowadays. The wine showed high-quality fruit, & its depth of flavour did in fact make a great match for the chicken.
Wine 3 needs no introduction, a Wynns 2018 Black Label Cab @ 13.7%. Has Wynns ever made a dud Black Label? I think not. Sue Hodder & her team are at the top of their game & have done so for years. The wine today was its usual impeccable best, medium body, garnet red, jam-packed with soft flavours of plum, rhubarb, spice, gentle tannins & adequate acid to get to a delightful finish. Just what you would expect from this famous team in an excellent vintage year.
Final wine for the afternoon was the Williunga 2022 Grenache @ 14.5% from the Trott Vineyard in McLaren Vale. I reviewed this wine last week & wrote my detailed assessment. I will not be repeating what I wrote just last week. The only thing that has changed since then is that this wine has won the award for Australia’s top Grenache, announced late last week. See, I told you that it was a great Grenache!
My pick of the day, the Wynns.
Miles Hedge back in the kitchen after a 20-year absence.
He made Stilton and leek soup with cream, onions and potatoes. It was from a recipe in The Chatsworth Cookery Book.
Rich depth of integrated flavours, with the Stilton cheese very tasty and not overly dominating the soup.
Very popular with members today. We’ll get the recipe on our website.
Jonathan Casson up next with some black and green olive tapenade on sourdough biscuits.
Terry Johnston, first time assisting with canapé prep today. He seared marinated pork that was sliced and served warm on toasts with sweet chilli sauce. The marinade was honey, garlic, Semillon and light soy. The pork was moist and tender.
A varied and enjoyable selection to get the afternoon underway.
‘Mar i muntanya’, inspired by Lucio Galleto’s casserole recipe.
A Catalan dish of chicken thighs with prawns served in a tomato sauce. Today it was deconstructed. The chicken was browned, the skin crisped, then rested. On the plate it was served with a Roma tomato, spring onion, garlic and wine sauce, accompanied by saffron rice, sugar snap peas topped with picada. Picada is a seasoning added into the sauce as well as spooned on top of the chicken. It’s made with fried bread, hazelnuts, almonds, parsley and plenty of garlic.
The dish came to the table with all ingredients at a good temperature. The prawns were flash-fried at service.
Our kitchen brigade received high praise for their help in meal preparation today.
Bread
Sourdough ficelles by AP Bakery, now at Circular Quay.
Cheese Master Mark Bradford selected a cow’s milk cheddar from Vermont, USA.
It came to the table in perfect condition. Many commented that the crust was edible as well.
This clothbound cheese is the result of an unusual collaboration and is now recognised as one of the finest traditional cheddars produced in the USA.
Cabot Dairy Cooperative make the cheese with milk from a single herd of Holstein cows and their own unique starter cultures at their huge facility in Vermont. The wheels are then transported to Mateo and Andy Kehler’s picturesque farmhouse dairy at Jasper Hill for expert ageing. After being carefully bound in cheesecloth and smeared with lard, the 16kg wheels are matured for at least 12 months in the underground caves carved out of the green hillside.
The result is crystalline-flecked, moist and crumbly cheddar with a sweet, tangy caramel flavour.
The cheese was accompanied by a salad of fennel, apple, cucumber and parsley, dressed with apple cider vinegar and EVOO.
L32 George and the team from the REX kitchen cook for the Society
A mild and breezy early spring Tuesday saw George, the newest member of ‘Team Rex’, preparing lunch for the Society. A healthy turnout of members were present to sample George’s fare, having developed his culinary skills in the UK and New Zealand before coming to Australia.
A good roll up of 30+ were treated to some delicious food from George & the Kitchen team. Canapés were superb as was the Main of Duck. See food report.
The Canapé wine was a delightful 2015 Mitchell McNicol Clare Riesling @ 13.5%. A lovely aged wine, with a dash of sweet spritzig on the first sip, which soon dissipated. The wine was in top condition, gleaming green/gold, clean & pure. Some slight residual sugar noted, but the wine finished with a dry flavour, with plenty of quality fruit at the finish. Plenty of acid present, leading to a firm, well balanced finish. A great example of Clare Riesling. Go the Clare, my favourite Australian wine area!
First lunch wine was a German Riesling, the 2013 Egon Müller Scharzhof from the Mosel Saar region @ 10.5%. This is a renowned wine from a top Riesling producer. I really liked this wine, typically low alcohol, with an abundance of powerful, well balanced fruit. No mistaking a German wine at the lower end of the sweetness range, dry finish, so well balanced. Teamed up with the spicy food perfectly.
Second lunch wine was the Willunga 100 from 2022 @ 14.5%. A quality Grenache from Blewitt Springs in SA from grapes planted in 1952 by the Trott family of Wirra Wirra fame. Dry grown, this was a very impressive wine, indicative of how the handling of Grenache has so changed, from producing cheap flagon wines to a lovely, classy wine such as this. Mid weight, cherry red to plum in colour, with boisterous juicy rich fruit on display, along with firm tannins & plenty of acid to produce a sinewy, spicy wine full of flavour. Grenache will never have the alluring complexities of Cabernet or Shiraz, but that aside, this was a terrific lunch time wine.
Third wine was an old friend, a Blaufränkisch from Pittnauer, an Austrian producer. Vintage 2014 @ 12.5%. It has been a while since we last enjoyed a decent Blaufränkisch, & I have missed it. This was a most enjoyable wine. Mid weight, full bodied, with a spicy finish, deep garnet red in colour, a lovely food wine. Come back again soon old friend, you will be most welcome with a dish of roast pork.
Our final wine was an Australian classic, the 2009 Orlando St Hugo Coonawarra Cab @ 14.2%, a wine that needs no introduction to the cognoscenti of Ozzie wine lovers of Coonawarra.
A medium weight Cabernet, very dark, almost opaque. The wine took some time to come together in the glass, and initially I thought that we may have had a poor bottle. However, time came to the rescue, with the wine slowly showing it's true flavours of black fruit, cassis & plum. A bit of the old cigar box aroma thrown in as well. Oak & tannins combining for a quality finish. Despite 17 years of bottle age the wine still stands up very well, with some years still ahead of enjoyable drinking.
My pick of the day, the Grenache.
Food report by Mark Bradford & James Hill
George prepared three excellent, tasty canapés for us today.
First up was crispy pork belly. The pork was marinated in honey and chilli and left to dry in the fridge for three days. Then slow cooked and deep fried, with some chilli and sesame honey.
Next were prawn dumplings, with corn, brown butter (beurre noisette), white soy and sesame.
The canapé offering was rounded off with chicken skewers, marinated in EVOO, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper, satay paste and crushed peanut.
All canapés were applauded by the members, matching well with the starter wine.
Today, George presented shredded duck meat with noodles, a very tasty and attractive dish. It had an orange Szechuan soup of chicken stock, ginger, garlic and orange zest; the starch was Hokkaido noodles, and chilli oil provided some good heat – without being overpowering – which went well with the wines provided. The members did their part for sustainability, with little or no leftovers to make dishwashing a low-energy task.
Today’s cheese was Riverine Blue, a fromage well-liked by the Society. An award-winning Australian blue cheese made from 100% buffalo milk by Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese in South Gippsland, it is notable for being the only buffalo milk blue cheese made in Australia and one of only a handful produced worldwide. It has a rich, creamy, smooth texture, distinctive blue-green veining, and a savoury, salty blue cheese flavour balanced by a subtle sweetness. The cheese is typically matured for two to three months prior to sale.
The cheese was served with walnuts baked with chilli sauce and golden syrup.
L31 An afternoon escape to Italy
40 members and guests rolled up to enjoy some Italian delights, welcoming in the first day of Spring. The lunch was put togehter by newly sworn-in member Tom Squires, assisted in the kitchen by guest Sam Alexiou. Tom was presented with the WFSNSW 'Golden Apron' for his first time cooking for the Society.
The theme for today’s lunch was Italian, put together by one of our newest members, Tom Squires, with the assistance of potential new member Sam Alexiou. Their youthful keenness and drive to put on a good lunch were rewarded with an excellent lasagne, plus some delicious canapés. See food report.
It was terrific to see a good roll-up, with around 40 members supporting them at their first WFS lunch.
The canapé wine was a Prosecco Rosé by Riva dei Frati NV. I suppose it was only a matter of time before we saw a Prosecco joining us for lunch, given the popularity of this drink worldwide. I thought that one day we would have to move with the times and not be like King Canute.
So, what is so wrong with having a Prosecco with an Italian meal? Plenty, in my view. Put simply, it was far too sweet and sugary and not in balance. Sorry to sound negative, but that's how I saw it. I really did not like it.
A courageous choice by our Wine Master, who is always endeavouring to widen our wine horizons with something a bit different.
The first two lunch wines were top class: a Seghesio Langhe Nebbiolo 2019 at 14.5% and a Poderi Aldo Conterno Barbera d'Alba 2015 at 14.5%. Both wines were lovely.
The Nebbiolo was a lightish wine, the colour of mild cherry, with a matching structure, but packing in some wonderful full fruit flavours of strawberry and cherry. Spicy, earthy hints followed, leading to a well-balanced texture with firm tannins and sufficient acidity to ensure a delightful finish.
A fine wine. I can just see myself on the shore of Lake Garda, on a sunny day, sipping this wine with a plate of antipasto, with enjoyable company, of course. Heaven!
The second wine, the Barbera, was totally different. Full-bodied, dense purple/black in colour and almost opaque. A big wine, no doubt, but in perfect balance and showing lots of flavour of blackberries, leather and earth. Tannin, oak and acidity all teamed up together to produce a powerful and pleasant finish.
Very definitely a wine for a fine Osso Bucco. I can just taste it!
Next was the Wynns Black Label Cabernet 2015 at 13.8%. This wine needs no introduction to our Society. It never fails to hit the mark, time after time.
Medium-weight and jam-packed with the classic taste of mature Coonawarra Cabernet, I think this wine has a great future ahead. Now 11 years old, it will be showing its class well into the 2030s.
An Australian icon.
The wine had that unmistakable aroma and taste of an Australian red wine, so different from the preceding Italian wines.
Wine 4 was the Tyrrell’s Old Hut Shiraz from 2014 at 14.2%. This wine is commonly regarded as the poor cousin of the esteemed Tyrrell’s Sacred Site collection. However, it comes from a vineyard right next to their celebrated 4 Acres vineyard, and being a 2014 vintage, it just does not put a foot wrong.
Totally different from the Wynns, it was much lighter, with juicy, sweet fruit. A soft wine, with gentle tannins and spicy dark fruit of plum and blueberry. An excellent finish.
A great example of the excellence of the 2014 vintage in the Hunter.
The final wine for our table was a “Fridge Drop”, by reason of our table numbers: a Lindeman’s Limestone Ridge Cabernet/Shiraz from 2012.
Once again, this wine was so different from the Italian wines in flavour and structure. You really knew you were back in OZ!
However, as I am uncertain how many in the room tasted this wine, I will not bang on, save to say it was delicious.
My pick of the day: the Barbera.
A great way to welcome Spring with an Italian-themed menu, with first-time Chef of the Day Tom Squires in the kitchen, assisted by Sam Alexiou (Bill’s son and Tom’s cousin).
Caprese skewers of Roma tomatoes, basil, bocconcini, glazed balsamic and EVOO.
Whipped ricotta on crostini, topped with lemon oil, toasted walnuts, hot honey and thyme.
Mushroom arancini with aioli dip.
Slow-cooked beef short rib lasagne.
Salad of butter lettuce, shaved fennel, Parmesan, pine nuts and lemon vinaigrette.
A lasagne with a difference. Tom used 10.5 kilos of braised beef short rib as the filling, with béchamel and pasta perfectly cooked. A simple salad accompanied the main course.
A great effort by a first-time Chef of the Day. All aspects of the lunch, from the canapés through to the main course and cheese accompaniment, were acclaimed by attendees today.
Plenty on the plate — no one went home hungry!
Great flavours, textures and presentation were a highlight.
Fiore Bakery - Mcmahons Point.
Keeping with the Italian theme, our Cheese Master, Mark Bradford, presented a blue cow’s milk cheese from Italy, ‘Gorgonzola Dolce’.
Surrounded by the lush pastures of Lombardy, the Mauri family still mature cheeses in their purpose-built caves, carved into the foothills of the Italian Alps.
Typically made from a single milking, the white interior has thick green lines of mould and a soft, creamy flavour. The crusty rind bulges as it matures and develops distinct yeasty flavours reminiscent of Taleggio. Gorgonzola Dolce is soft and sweet, with a subtle creamy texture and a piquant finish.
The cheese was accompanied by peeled grapes baked with orange zest.
L30 August Wine Lunch - COTD Denis Redfern
Today was certainly one for the books, with a stellar line-up of talent on display, both in the kitchen from our Chef of the Day and from our wine cellar. The day was expertly hosted by Chilly, who provided Members with a wealth of insight into the wines presented, bringing the stories and characters behind the wines to life.
The afternoon concluded with Members having the opportunity to sample wines from our two guest winemakers, providing a fitting end to an outstanding day of food, wine and conversation. More about this below!
To top things off, we were able to welcome a new Member into our Society.
Wine report by Stephen O’Halloran
A full house of 50+ enjoyed some terrific food and wine, and I am sure we all had a rollicking great time. The canapés by James Hill, Steve Sparkes and Gary Doherty were a great hit, while the roast beef prepared by Denis Redfern was plentiful and beautiful. Well done to all involved.
The canapé wine was a Society favourite, the Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling 2017. This wine never fails and remains one of our top canapé wines. Crisp, bright acidity and a clean finish, preceded by delicate hints of lemon and lime citrus. I did notice, however, that some bottles I poured were a tad darker than most — a little less vibrant perhaps. Bottle variation, or simply age, may have been a factor. Nonetheless, a delightful canapé wine.
Now for the serious business of the day: the Shiraz taste-off between Australian and French wines from the Northern Rhône. I do not intend to report in detail on all of the wines involved, but instead provide my summary of the comparison as I saw it on the day.
The Australian Shiraz was represented by the iconic Best’s Vineyard in Great Western Victoria, featuring their Bin 0 from 2010 and 2014. These wines come from vines planted in the late 1880s and early 1900s — truly a national treasure for Shiraz lovers. The French were represented by four Guigal wines: a 2010 St Joseph, and three Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde Syrah from 2012, 2010 and 2009. Interestingly, all six wines were 13.5% alcohol.
The local team elected to kick off with the 2014 leading the charge, followed closely by the 2010. Both wines were superb, although in my view the 2014 had the edge. Over the last few years I have drunk many bottles of their Bin 1 2014, which has become my go-to red wine.
Both the 2014 and 2010 Bin 0s were elegant, mid-weight wines, garnet in colour with traces of purple. Spicy and peppery, with wonderful balance between tannins, oak and acidity, they led to a lingering, powerful finish demanding another glass! Both wines were truly Shiraz of the highest quality.
The 2010 Bin 0 had won multiple awards at the Sydney Show in past years. However, on this occasion the room narrowly preferred the 2014, with personal taste probably being the key factor.
The French line-up was, I think it is fair to say, lighter in colour and structure than the Australian wines. The Côte-Rôtie wines were all 96% Syrah with 4% Viognier, while the St Joseph was 100% Syrah.
They were all mid- to light-weight wines, red-brick in colour, with hints of earthy spice and cherry on the palate. Balance was good, with noticeable acidity present. The wines were enjoyable to drink, but it must be said that, with the exception of the final wine — the 2009 — they left the palate without making much of an impression.
The 2009 was, in my opinion, the pick of the French bunch: a really nice wine, with a deeper and denser structure than the others, rich fruit and a fleshy, supple character.
A direct comparison between the two groups revealed, in my opinion, that the Australian wines had more flavour while retaining their elegance, finishing with a more appealing aftertaste. The French wines, with the exception of the 2009, finished in a somewhat bland fashion.
At the end of the day, by general acclaim it was a win for Team Australia, with the Best’s Bin 0 2014 the room’s first choice, the Côte-Rôtie 2009 in second place and the Best’s Bin 0 2010 third.
A most interesting afternoon, with special thanks to the late Paul Firman and our Gregg Chugg for selecting these outstanding wines many years ago, making a day like today possible.
My pick of the day: Best’s Bin 0 2014.
Words by Tony Scott
After completing his presentation of the Northern Rhône reds, Chilly invited Tony Scott to introduce his two winemaker guests, Tom Egan and Alex Head, who spoke to Members about a selection of their wines presented on the day.
Tom Egan learned his winemaking skills in Margaret River, Western Australia. For five years, he and two of his WA winemaker colleagues travelled to Mendoza, Argentina, for every vintage, making wines which they then marketed back in Australia under the Jed Wines label.
Tom is now National Marketing Manager for Viticult, based in Marrickville, which represents a number of impressive South American wines in Australia. These include wines from Bodega Colomé of Salta, high in the Andes of Argentina — an area where Phil Laffer himself spent five years working as a winemaker.
Alex Head, of Head Wines, spent several years working with Jon Osbeiston at Ultimo Cellars before moving to Langton’s, where he spent a further five years developing his knowledge of wine. During this time, he also graduated from Sydney University with a degree in Chemistry and Microbiology.
Alex has now completed 20 successive vintages making wines in the Barossa. His wines include several Shiraz made in a Northern Rhône style, notably Head Wines The Blonde and Head Wines The Brunette.
Perhaps most remarkably, Alex has achieved all of this without owning a winery himself — an impressive testament to his winemaking experience, relationships and resourcefulness.
Full house today for our August wine tasting lunch, with Denis Redfern in the kitchen as Chef of the Day.
Guests were welcomed with a selection of canapés: James Hill’s coarse country-style terrine, based on a recipe from Damien Pignolet; Steve Sparke’s dried apricot with a splodge of crème fraîche, a piece of walnut and a drizzle of honey; and Gary Doherty’s salmon mousse tarts. A varied and enjoyable selection to get the afternoon underway.
The ribeye was the centrepiece of the meal, with four substantial pieces of beef prepared for the occasion. Each piece was carefully dried, seasoned and lightly oiled before being given a very hot sear to develop a rich, flavoursome crust. The beef was then finished gently in the oven, with the cooking closely monitored to ensure each piece reached the desired level of doneness.
As the pieces varied slightly in size, they were removed from the oven individually rather than all at once. After a long, well-insulated rest, the beef settled beautifully, resulting in a consistent rare to medium-rare finish across all four pieces.
The result was excellent. The exterior had a deep, well-developed crust, while the meat remained tender, juicy and beautifully pink through the centre. The long resting period also appeared to pay dividends, with very little juice lost when the beef was carved.
The beef was served with Beaver horseradish cream. The sharpness and gentle heat of the horseradish provided an excellent counterpoint to the richness of the ribeye and made for a classic combination.
Yorkshire puddings were prepared to accompany the beef, ensuring there were plenty to go around. The batter was made with eggs, plain flour and light milk, with the lighter milk helping produce a particularly crisp result.
The puddings were cooked in well-preheated muffin pans with beef tallow, giving them a wonderfully savoury flavour. They rose impressively in the oven, developing a crisp, golden exterior while remaining light and airy inside. Briefly reheated at the REX just before service, they retained their crispness and arrived at the table in excellent condition.
They proved to be the perfect partner for the ribeye — crisp on the outside, soft within and ideal for soaking up the meat juices and horseradish cream.
The roast potatoes were another highlight. Potatoes from Mitolo Farms were prepared and partially roasted in a combination of duck fat and ghee before being finished the following day at the REX. The result was exactly what you would hope for from a great roast potato — beautifully crisp and golden on the outside, with a soft and fluffy centre. They provided an excellent accompaniment to the beef and gravy.
The gravy was made by deglazing the roasting pans with Fantini Sangiovese, before combining this with beef stock, more of the wine and Oxo cubes — a nod to traditional Yorkshire practice. It was reduced to develop plenty of depth and body and provided a rich and flavoursome accompaniment to the beef and Yorkshire puddings.
The sauce soubise was particularly interesting. Cooked until tender before being combined with béchamel and finished with butter. This is a family tradition passed down from Denis’s grandparents and is rarely seen on menus today. Its creamy, savoury character made it a wonderful accompaniment to the beef.
The green beans were simply prepared, cooked until tender but retaining a pleasant crispness. Their freshness provided a welcome contrast to the richness of the main course.
The meal concluded with a washed-rind Langres from Fromagerie Germain, which arrived at the table in perfect condition. This was accompanied by a fresh spinach salad and crusty bread, both courtesy of Rob Guthrie.
Denis is indebted to James Hill, Steve Sparke and Gary Doherty for their excellent canapés, and to Rob Guthrie for the spinach salad and for sourcing the crusty bread that accompanied the cheese.
It has been ten years since Denis was last in the kitchen, and it was a very welcome return. There was clearly a great deal of thought, preparation and effort that went into today’s lunch, and it was masterfully executed, with flavours, textures and presentation all working beautifully together.
As Phil said today, we saw a perfect combination of food and wine — a fitting description of an excellent August tasting lunch.
New Member Alert
President Stephen O’Halloran welcomed a new member today, Peter Antaw, to our society presenting him with a society pin and our history “A table of delights”.
L29 Hal and his Pork Knuckles
Today saw 30 members around the tables with Hal at the helm putting on a show with his pork knuckles. Our Wine Master brought back some fond memories for our President, brining out a wine he discovered on his honeymoon all those years ago.
Today, a crowd of about 30 or so gathered together for a bit of knuckle @ the WFS, and by that I mean Pork Knuckle, not what goes on in our Committee meetings. Hal Epstein had put on a delicious meal of perfectly cooked Pork Knuckle with red cabbage and all the other trimmings. It was a great effort from Hal & Amosh to put it all together. See Food Report for more detail.
Our Canapé wine was the Larry Cherubino Folklore Chardonnay 2022 @ 13.3%. This man is one of our best winemakers, and this is his entry-level chardy from his vineyards in WA. The wine is a very acceptable commercial-style drink for Canapés. Good acidity, hints of melon & stone fruits, quite a big wine packing lots of rich fruit flavours, but to me the finish was marred by a degree of sweetness which I found off-putting. However, it is what it is, a good-value Chardy which would appeal to many, but not this little black duck.
Wine number 1 on the lunch wines was the great Schloss Johannisburg Kabinett Rotlack Riesling 2021 @ 11.5% from the Rheingau district of Germany. What a wine!
My wife & I first tasted this wine when on our Honeymoon in 1972, when we visited Norfolk Island. One mouthful and we were hooked. I think we drank it with everything we ate: steak, roast beef, fish, pasta, salads and so on. The memories are very clear. It certainly washed away any honeymoon anxieties, including how we were going to afford bottle after bottle of this wine!
So much for an expedition down memory lane. Put simply, this is a magnificent Riesling. Elegant, restrained, perfectly balanced fruit/acid integrating seamlessly. Lingering finish that yearns for more! Pure, vibrant, everything in harmony. I can say no more. Wonderful.
Number 2 wine, the Port Philip Estate 2023 Pinot Noir @ 13.5%, was to me disappointing. The wine & I just did not hit it off together from my first glance at its insipid appearance. Light, pale red-brick colour, thin & lacking in any degree of depth or flavour. A cool-climate wine from the Mornington Peninsula, the wine was highly acidic & finished poorly. To me, this wine was a throwback to the early days of PN in Australia, watery & flavourless. I have no desire to see this wine again.
Wine 3 was the SC Pannell Adelaide Hills 2016 Shiraz @ 14%. This chap is one of my favourite winemakers, but I regret to say, this wine was not one of his best. Colour was good, a mid-weight Shiraz, quite elegant on the palate, showing nice earthy spices with firm tannins & good oak integration, but there was something lacking at the finish. Maybe acids were falling away a tad, leading to a rather dull finish. Still an enjoyable lunch wine, however, but perhaps I was expecting a bit more from this celebrated winemaker. Perhaps should have been drunk 2/3 years ago.
Final wine of the day was the 2016 Pagliarese Chainti Classico @ 13%. A wine from Tuscany, 90% Sangiovese. The colour was still good, dark fruit flavours of cherry, blueberry & raspberry, tannin & oak in balance, but I detected a touch of acid loss at the finish, with a touch of flabby aftertaste. Still quite an acceptable lunch wine, but again, in my view drinking a few years beyond its prime.
My wine of the day, the magnificent Schloss Johannisburg Riesling.
Our chef of the day was Hal Epstein.
Hal always looks to do something a little different. Today, it was canapés with an indigenous ingredient.
Hal started with popcorn with a bush pepper blend.
Freshly popped popcorn dusted with a bush pepper blend.
A first as a canapé in my time with our society.
Yours truly followed up with some kangaroo loin meatballs with saltbush, some Davidson plum paste, and balsamic dipping sauce. Kangaroo is a lean meat, so when preparing the meatballs, we added some pork fat to stop them drying out.
Then came mini arancini coated with lemon myrtle crumbs and onion, breadcrumbs, mozzarella, and Parmesan mixed with the rice.
Roasted pork knuckle with red cabbage, cauliflower, and a panko crumb topping.
The pork knuckles were perfectly cooked, crackling on the outside and the meat moist and tender, falling off the bone. On the plate, we had red cabbage that was slowly cooked with apples, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and butter, and panko-crusted florets of cauliflower.
What a feast! No one went hungry today; the pork knuckle average weight was 800 gms.
A very good lunch today. Thanks, Hal.
Hal acknowledged the assistance of our kitchen brigade in preparing the pork knuckle.
Bread was baguettes from Baker Bleu, Double Bay.
Hal got Claude to recommend a cheese, and cheese master Mark Bradford obliged. Today we had ‘Stilton’, a cow’s milk blue cheese from England.
A limited quantity of Stilton is made at Colston Bassett to a traditional recipe exclusively for Neal’s Yard Dairy using animal rennet, which creates a delicate, friable texture and long, complex flavour. Curds are hand-ladled into cylindrical moulds; a time-consuming and painstaking process, but one that helps to preserve the structure of the curd and deliver a smooth, rich-textured cheese.
The piercing takes place later in the maturation process in order to strike the right balance between creamy, flavoursome paste and blue mould.
During maturation, the crusty rind forms naturally, encouraged by rubbing and brushing, and after spiking, blueing radiates from the centre. This is a buttery, silky cheese with an elegant sweetness.
L28 A Taste of Chinatown Comes to Gresham Street
36 members gathered around the tables to enjoy a taste of Chinatown, put on by our very talented Bernard Leung with the assistance of James Hill.
A quite reasonable crowd turned up today to sample Bernie Leung’s Chinese banquet, which was delicious from the canapés through to the main course of stir-fried pork. See the food report for full details.
Canapés — Collector Chardonnay 2021
Wine 1 — Pikes Merle Riesling 2022
Wine 2 — Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2023
Wine 4 — Orlando St Hugo Cabernet 2009
With the canapés, we enjoyed a really nice little Chardonnay from Collector Wines, near Canberra, although the grapes were grown in Tumbarumba, southern NSW.
This region has, in recent years, developed a worthy reputation for excellent Chardonnay. Some of Penfolds’ top Chardonnays are sourced from the region, as are some of our best sparkling wines.
The wine today was the 2021 vintage at 12.9%. A few years of bottle age have produced a rounded, well-balanced wine. It showed a gleaming green-gold colour, clear and crisp, with an abundance of quality fruit. Apple, melon and peach were prominent.
This is an extremely good commercial Chardy, drinking at its peak, with a powerful finish.
Wine 1 on the lunch menu was the highly rated Merle Riesling from Pikes in Clare. This is their flagship white wine, made only in the best years.
A beautiful Riesling at 11.5%, this wine came from the acclaimed 2022 vintage. It was an elegant, restrained Riesling showing real class.
I have no doubt that it will be drinking superbly in another 10 to 15 years. Today, the wine was showing hints of lime and lemon, with perfect acid/fruit balance on the palate, leading to a crisp, lingering finish.
I would really love to drink this wine again in 2036, by which time it will have become a classic.
Wine 2 was the Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2023 at 13.5%, a wine grown in and around the Young district of NSW.
A mid-weight Shiraz, red-brick in colour and showing typical quality Shiraz flavours of pepper and spice. Oak and tannins were nicely in place. This is a cool-climate wine with great potential to develop into a refined Northern Rhône style.
I am sure that, given another five years of bottle age, this wine will become a delightful, elegant mid-weight Shiraz.
Just give it more time.
Wine 4 was a beauty — a 2009 Orlando St Hugo Cabernet at 14.2%.
A lovely 17-year-old Cabernet with all the trimmings. Huge berry-fruit aromas, an intense deep-red to near-black colour, and sweet, chewy flavours of plum, blackcurrant and chocolate.
The oak and tannins worked perfectly together on the finish to deliver great satisfaction. A rich, muscular wine and a real treat to drink.
A very typical example of a high-quality aged Australian Cabernet.
Our wine master also served some “table drop” reds. Our table scored a Deep Woods Estate Cabernet Malbec from Margaret River, which was delicious.
My wine of the day was the St Hugo.
A welcome return to the kitchen today for former Chef of the Year winner, Bernard Leung, presenting a Chinese themed lunch for us today.
First up Bernie presented some double fried pork bites:
Yours truly presented a variation on prawn spring roll — shelled and deveined prawns marinated in garlic and ginger overnight. Then smashed on rice paper and deep fried and served with hoisin and soy dipping sauce.
Braised Shanghainese Pork with Rice
Our main was served with Bok choy and rice.
An authentic meal executed with great success highlighting texture, flavours and innovation.
Much appreciated by all attending.
Thanks Bernie.
Mark Bradford selected our cheese today, a hard, unpasteurised cow’s milk cheese from France, ‘Comté Symphonie’. A society favourite, it came to the table in perfect condition.
Comté is a type of Gruyere, a large mountain cheese made in the Jura region on the borders of France and Switzerland. This hard cooked raw milk cheese is made at small dairies or fruitieres using the milk from several herds of Montbeliard cows.
Affineur Marcel Petite selects and matures the young wheels under a cold maturation system at 1,100 metres in the old underground Fort of Saint Antoine, carefully grading cheese before, during and after maturation.
Only a few wheels are selected for extra maturation and branded under the special label ‘Symphonie’. These are selected because of the development of intense flavour and supple texture which is in perfect balance.
Simply served with cabbage and crispy noodle salad dressed with white vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil.
Love this salad, simple yet very tasty.
L27 A Food Tour Of Nepal
30 members came together to enjoy a taste of Nepal, put on by our very talented sous-chef Madan & the team in the REX kitchen.
We had our talented kitchen team cooking for us today with Medan ,our sous chef, producing a Nepalese meal based on Newari cooking of Kathmandu Valley.
Canapés BBQ Prawn — served with Nepalese-style mint achar (pickle). The prawns were marinated in ginger and garlic for twenty four hours and then char grilled. Kukhura Ko Jhol — spiced chicken soup made with chicken bones stock coriander,cinnamon,hot oil and cumin. Haas Ko Choila — char-grilled duck, marinated in Nepalese spice, a Newari specialty. The duck was marinated in ginger,garlic, tempered mustard and scallionsand wrapped with Chinese duck pancake.
Mains Aloo Tama — potato and bamboo shoot curry soup made with yellow onion,tomatoes,cumin coriander and chicken stock. Chicken Thigh — Nepalese style marinated in ginger garlic paste Served with basmati rice,daikon radish and cucumber. The chicken was moist and tender with a crispy skin finish. The ‘soup’ was served separately to the chicken and rice and we had to pour it over our meal.It looked great,glossy and inviting ,with a lovely depth of flavour with the right balance of spice and heat. All the food presented to day was very favourably commented on and appreciated by members attending today, high quality, deliciously flavoured and perfectly executed.
Cheese Our cheese master, Mark Bradford selected a white mould goat’s cheese from France ‘Buche De Lucay’. It came to the table in perfect condition and a good match for wines on offer. P.Jacquin et fils produce traditional style goats milk cheeses in the Loire region of western France. This typical, french log-shaped cheese takes its name from nearby Lucay-le-Male. Fresh salted curds are covered with p.candidum and ripened in humid rooms to encourage the moulds to form a velvety white coat.
A decent roll up participated in an outstanding Nepalese banquet put on by the very talented REX kitchen team of Amosh & Madan. The Canapes were delicious & the Chicken Main was superb. See food report for full details.
Wine 1 – Minaia Gavi 2021 @ 13% Wine 2 – Gunderloch Riesling 2021 @ 11.5% Wine 3 – Castellania Barbera 2010 @ 14.5% Wine 4 – Magella Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 @ 14.5% Wine 5 – Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet 2012 @ 14%
Wine wise, we got the party started with one of my favourites the Minaia Gavi 2021 @ 13%. A wine from the Piedmont region made from the Cortese grape. A very popular wine in Italy, for good reason. Quite acidic on the first taste, but dry & mouth filling with high quality fruit. Rich flavours of apple & citrus fruits. Perfect wine for the Canapes. Sadly, our last bottles for a while.
First wine for lunch was the Gunderloch Riesling 2021 @ 11.5%. Crystal clear, a delicious quality Riesling, from the home of Riesling. This wine from the Rhinehessin region was a delight. Gleaming gold in colour, crisp on the palate but dry & full of flavour. A slight hint of residual sugar as one would expect, but overall a lovely wine.
Wine 2 was the Castellania Barbera 2010. 14.5%. A 16 yo wine which may have proved a bridge too far for a Barbera. A mid weight wine, traces of red berry fruits such as cherry, raspberry & strawberry. Juicy flavours on the mid palate with the acid still just hanging in there. I thought it was a perfect lunch wine with it's lightish structure & still plenty of flavour. Maybe drunk a few years after it's prime.
Wine 3 was the Magella Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 @ 14.5%. A vineyard with a very long history in that area, producing some high quality Cabernet in good years. Today the wine presented as a big, opaque wine, full bodied with lots of Cabernet flavours. Some signs of ageing with acid diminishing, but still very drinkable. Tannin & oak balancing out equally leading to an enjoyable finish, still retaining it's deep black fruit flavours of that grape. 2004 was a top year in Coonawarra & at 22 yo the wine is still doing well, but I would have preferred to have drunk it in say 2020.
Final wine of the day was the 2012 Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet @ 14%. This was a lovely wine. Great to see one of our most prestigious labels back in action.
In prior years this was one of our most sought after red wines especially in the 60 ' & 70 's. Any self respecting wine lover would have a few bottles of this wine in his cellar. This was the wine that gained enormous fame from it's famous " Peppermint Pattie ", a 1963 Cabernet, a truly unique wine which I was fortunate enough to taste many years ago.
Sadly, the brand became lost in the storm of takeovers & mergers during the 80's & 90's & it virtually disappeared for years eventually reappearing in the Treasury Wine Estates portfolio some years ago. In any event the wine today was in my view first class. Considerably more elegant than the Magella, but still showing strong cabernet indicators. A medium weight wine, deep garnet red & showing lots of blackberry, mulberry & plumb tastes, & was that a hint of mint I detected? Ah the memories!
Now at 14 yo, fully developed with plenty of time ahead, but don't keep it for too long!. Thanks for the memories.
My wine of the day? You guessed it. The Mildara. I plead guilty to being a sentimentalist.
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