Lunch 19 May 2015

The team of Robert Wiggin and Michael Milward were in the kitchen last Tuesday supported by Robert's daughter Chantelle Wiggins. Numbers were down as it seems half of our members are in Europe however proceedings got off to great start with some well executed lamb and pea filo samosas and Tandoori lamb chops topped with coriander moist and perfectly cooked. Both starters had a matching dip of cucumber and yoghurt. 

Our canape wine was a 2006 Mt Pleasant "Anne" semillon from standin wine master James Hill, good acid and length an example of mature Hunter semillon with 10.5% alcohol.

Robert took us to India with his main course, in the shape of chicken roasted on ginger garlic and Greek yoghurt , accompanied on the plate with potato and pea dry curry mixture blenede with a Korea sauce and Baltin and "jalfrezi" capsicum onion sauce and and good crunchy steamed broccolini.Rice was perfectly cooked with pepperes and onions and side dishes of fresh chili,cucumber and yoghurt and chutney were there to enhance the flavours. It was spicy with some chili heat but not to overwhelm the dish and our palates . A choice of wine styles to go with it featuring a 2006 Warramate Rose from Yarra Valley 100% Malbec 13% alc and 2006 Cloudy Bay Pinot from NZ. Both were good, the local showing mature fruit and a dry style, drinking well; whilst the NZ  wine showed berry fruit with a sweetness to match the curry a good style of wine preferred by most as the wine and food match. 

The cheese was the classic Fromager d'Affinois from France, a rich cow's milk cheese with a buttery texture and creamy suble flavour. Mandarin, passionfruit and black grapes were  served with it as well as crunchy wheat biscuits. The wines were  2006 Tyrrells Steven Shiraz 13.5% alc and the 2002 Rosemount Mountain Blue Cabernet Shiraz 14.5.% alc . The Stevens was an elegant wine with balanced flavour no harshness on the palate still under developed, the Mountain Blue was drinking very well on the day still some fruit showing with good length silky tannins.

The coffee was Devon and Spencer breweed a Chai tea with ginger a great finish to an excellent lunch. 

Lunch 12 May 2015

A mass exodus overseas by members including the President Wine Master and Vice-president saw Steve Liebeskind chairing the lunch and Peter Kelso doing wines for chef James Hill, assisted by Gary Linnane. At least Ross MacDonald was on hand with the cheese, with Spencer Ferrier dispensing the coffee.

Canapes were provided by Gary in part, comprising a nicely textured and flavoured salmon rillettes on small sourdough slices from Iggy's; the balance being two types of saloumi, or spicy pork sausage,from James, simply served in rounds. One was mild, the other slightly hot, but both were outstanding, although the milder was better in texture. This all went well with an aperitif 2005 Lindemans Bin 0555 semillon, bottled under stelvin and still lemon-fresh, but with a note of toast starting to come through.

Duck was in James' sights for the main course, and he brought them home extremely well, with breasts of Dolly Parton dimensions seared then pan-roasted and served with a good red wine based sauce meurette. It was accompanied by some well-executed slightly sweet chopped red cabbage, by some chat potatoes (slightly under)done in goose fat, and a surprise slice of fruit which many identified as a not too sweet stewed quince, briefly finished off in the frypan. Vinously, there had to be, and was, a pinot, the 2009 Stonier from Mornington Peninsula, soft with firm pinot characters but a little short; but also a 2008 Vasse Felix cabernet from Margaret River, a lovely wine in its own right although opinions differed on its suitability for the duck.

Ross' attempts to get a top French cheese were disappointed, so instead we had a top cheese from Holland, an unpasteurised Boerenkass 15-month aged gouda which had an intense rich nutty flavour and a firm dense texture. A green salad went with it, enlivened with a hit of tarragon and some sliced radishes. The accompanying wines were a 2008 Seppelts Chalambar shiraz from a couple of regions in mid Victoria and a 2002 Saltram Mamre Brook Barossa shiraz. The former was rich and clean in the typical style with good drying tannins, whilst the latter provoked a bit of comment , from the " too much fruit and alcohol (15%)" to the "mother's milk", depending on palate, There was no doubt it was a typical but superior fruit bomb Barossa, impressive for its age.

And the question of age reared its head with the coffee, with birthday boy Neil Galbraith (age undisclosed) providing us with a 1981 Lindemans vintage port of soft sweet fruit and a bit of spirit to help its length on the palate. The coffee itself was a single origin Colombian bean sourced from the barista daughter of food master Nick Reynolds, mild and showing distinct bitter chocolate notes on the palate.

Lunch 5 May 2015

We expected cool and rainy weather for  what advised to be a perfect cold weather dish however the sun shone and it enticed some forty members into attending lunch with Bill Alexiou in the kitchen, Paul Irwin (our wine recorder) on wines, Ross MacDonald on cheese and Spencer Ferrier in charge of coffee.

Canapes were prepared by Peter Squires and Peter Manners and comprised a zuchinni and feta frittata as well as finely sliced lamb backstrap topped with a Greek version of babaganoush which has pomegranate seeds and yoghurt instead of tahini .There was also sliced boiled egg with a tapenade, the last on toasted bread that could have been crisper to complement the toppings. Accompanying them was the Pikes riesling 2006 drinking very well and still fresh under stelvin . The reliable Lustau sherry was also on offer this time.

The main course was a Greek "stifada", marinated beef cheek in a luscious sauce made on tomato carrot and flavour enhancers of cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves . Also on the plate was some risoni , little grains of pasta resembling rice in appearance . It was a meal of robust flavours and good texture. Served with it were a Burtons Limestone Ridge Merlot 2001 13.5% alc which showed good fruit and flavour; and a Warrenmang Estate Black Puma shiraz 2001 from the Pyreenes area of Victoria. At 15% it was a big wine, elegant and well balanced with dominant blackberry fruit.

.The cheese this week: a Tarago Shadows of Blue made from pasteurised cow's milk from Gippsland Victoria .It was a rich double cream blue vein cheese with a creamy flavour, a good aged example of the style with nutty and salty tastes on the palate. It was simply served with a salad of walnut, lettuce, rocket and pear. The accompanying wines were a 1999 Rosemount Estate Mountain Blue shiraz cabernet from Mudgee ( 14% alc) and 1999 Pirramimma Maclaren Vale Stocks Hill Shiraz(14% alc).The Mudgee wine was judged wine of the day by speakers: it was well balanced and flavoured with blackberry eucalyptus characters. The Pirrammma was well past its bed time, most bottles "dusty" with oxidised character and hard acid end palate.

The red wines were all under cork.

The coffee was made on beans from El Salvador, a sweet light coffee well matched to follow the cheese course

Wine tasting 28 April 2015

Wine Master Paul Ferman selected the wines for the monthly tasting before he departed for foreign climes, so was not there to receive the accolades which flowed from a great collection of SA reds from 2004. In order of appearance, they were: Penfolds Bin 407 cabernet; Grant Burge Shadrach cabernet; Majella Coonawarra cabernet; Orlando St Hugo Coonawarra cabernet ; and 2 masked wines (same State and year) which were revealed as: Burton McLaren Vale shiraz; and Penfolds Bin 389 cabernet-shiraz. It was a terrific lineup, and not a dud among them, leading to a diversity of preferences, although the 389, a dark monster with years ahead of it, seemed to find unanimous favour. Otherwise, the bigger fruit wines, particularly the St Hugo and the Shadrach, were preferred to the more elegant 407, Majella and Burton, but all agreed the whole range was the best seen at a tasting for some time.

The quality of the wines was enhanced by some spicy, but not too much so, food from Paul Thorne, with Keith Steele on canapes. These took the form of a very good homemade terrine with a dab of quince paste on thin baguette toasts, and little cups of a tasty but still zingy tomato-based Moroccan soup. With them came a single aperitif, the 2003 Richmond Grove Watervale riesling, showing some maturity but still youthful zest, a slight spritz and plenty of fruit. The Moroccan theme continued into the main course of lamb shoulder, slow cooked in a broth of Mid-Eastern spices but no heat and served fall-apart but still moist with accompanying hand-around plates of quinoa with pine nuts, chopped dates and other goodies, and a warm salad of red capsicum and tomato with sliced red onion. There were strong flavours to match the strength of the wines, and the bigger ones went better with the food.

It was back home for the cheese, a very young, snow white and creamy Meredith chevre from Victoria, mild and lactic with a sourness that went well with fresh figs, dates and fresh walnuts in a sugar glaze in the Moroccan fashion; but not quite so well with the tasting wines, although it was better with the aperitif riesling for those who managed to save a bit.

The memorable meal concluded with a not-so-memorable coffee, a single estate from Panama obviously grown with the US market in mind, soft, pleasant and inoffensive.

Lunch 21 April 2015

It was good to see Bruce Thomas( immaculately attired as usual in chef's whites) back in the kitchen, assisted by good mate and fellow member Mark Compton.

First up were some fine canapes, a piece of Bruce's trademark lightly cured salmon with crème fraiche in a short pastry cup, and some quality duck liver pate with lashings of grand marnier on plain thin toasts. The main aperitif to accompany was a 2013 Tellurian marsanne from Heathcote, fresh and juicy but a bit sweet and monodimensional. Also on offer was the last of the McWilliams Vintage amontillado sherry, rich and full but lacking the cut of the Lustau equivalent.

For the main course, Bruce took us to Normandy, with large veal backstraps roasted, sliced and served on a bed of celeriac and winter root vegetable puree with slice of cored and poached spiced apple on top and a veal reduction stock enriched with calvados, verjuice and cream poured over. Completing the plate were some perfectly crunchy beans and snow peas. The meat was great, although with inevitable differences in doneness according to the part of the backstrap it came from. The sauce was a joy, and in all it was a classic French bistro dish, not too heavy but tasty and satisfying. Satisfying, and interesting, might also be applied to the accompanying wines: a 2010 Nicolas Reau Pompois Anjou and a Mediterra Toscana from the same year. Neither was familiar to most members; the Anjou, made from cabernet franc grapes, was youthfully purple, with a pronounced spritz, some briary characters and clean, while the Toscana was made from traditional shiraz, cabernet and merlot and showed as a more serious wine with fine tannins balancing some high (14.5%) alcohol and a good match with the food. If they expanded members' horizons, that is no bad thing.

The cheese, of course, also came from Normandy: a rather young but decidedly delicious Fromage de Meaux, the pasteurised version of Brie de Meaux. It showed typical grassy notes in the paste, which was still crumbly and slightly sour in the centre, with lovely floury rind and no hint of ammonia. With it, Bruce served his trademark quince paste, a developed and slightly tart labour of love, and some fresh walnuts, now in season. Wine Master Paul Ferman returned to Australia with a 2000 Tyrrells Vat 1 semillon and a 2010 Tappanappa Foggy Hill pinot from the Fleurieu Peninsula of SA. The Vat 1 was still a baby, with high acid dominating the top fruit and perhaps a bit restrained for the cheese compared with the pinot, made by Brian Crozer and a really good Oz pinot, with Burgundian notes on the nose and nice vegetal characters on the palate; it needs time to improve

Finally, Spencer Ferrier gave us a coffee made on medium roast beans from a single estate in Panama, in the lighter style but with a firm finish and enough acid to give it interest. It was outclassed by a birthday wine from Martin McMurray, a 12-year matured Stanton & Killeen muscat from Rutherglen, grapey, sweet and luscious, the classic Xmas pudding in a glass.

AGM and lunch 14 April 2015

Food Master Nick Reynolds had the job ahead of him, serving a lunch to about 40 members following the AGM which concluded about 12 noon. The intervening hour was filled by a succession of wines from the generous Wine Master, along with plenty of canapes from Nick and Bill Alexiou: the result was an unusually boisterous crowd sitting down at 1pm.

Nick and Bill took it all in their stride, however. For starters, Bill produced some wonderful pork and beef Greek meatballs and a zingy beetroot paste on bread crisps, while Nick came up with a lemony homemade hummus under a nicely done coffin Bay scallop topped by a piece of grilled bresaola, or air-dried beef, on ceramic spoons. Accompanying them, the wines included, but were not limited to, a 1997 Tyrrells Stevens Semillon, a 1998 Steingarten riesling, a 1998 Vat 1 semillon from Tyrrells, a Picnic pinot from Central Otago in NZ and a choice of amontillado and manzanilla Lustau sherries. Space, and an increasing blur, do not permit notes on each.

As previously stated, Nick faced the hordes at table undaunted. Sundry sous vide tanks on display indicated what was to come, and some wonderfully bright pink fillets of ocean trout duly appeared, sprinkled with a dusting of Middle Eastern spices and served with an appropriately slightly pickled salad of fennel and crumbled fetta cheese, boosted with intense fennel pollen. With the rich but not oily fish appeared a 2009 Ocean Eight chardonnay from Mornington Peninsula, with crisp stone fruit characters on nose and palate but lacking depth; and a 2010 Port Phillip pinot noir from the same area, plenty of sweet fruit on the palate in the lighter Oz style but needing a bit more time to develop depth.

The cheese was, as ever, great, a Secret de Scey semi-hard cows' milk cheese from the Franche-Comte region of France, with a distinctive vein of ash and a salt-washed rind, showing good mild creamy flavours and soft chewy consistency. Some salted mixed nuts were an ok accompaniment, as were a 2006 Epsilon shiraz from the Barossa, showing typical overripe fruit and big bricky characters but some strong tannins to give it a degree of elegance; and a 1998 Bowen Coonawarra cabernet, light and elegant for a Bowen, mature and better with the cheese.

An El Salvador (Central American) medium roast bean was the basis for a smooth, relatively soft coffee in the US style to bring proceedings to a final halt.

Mixed lunch 7 April 2015

Who said members avoid mixed lunches? Even our President was among the 54 members and guests who assembled on the first day after the Easter break to enjoy some great food from Roger Straiton in the kitchen, and ditto wines, cheese and coffee from the usual respective providers.

Vinously, Paul Ferman started with an eclectic mix of a Bredif sparkling chenin blanc from Vouvray, a McWilliams Museum Release amontillado sherry and some still whites, chiefly the Tim Smith Eden Valley Riesling seen at previous lunches.A campari was provided to liven up the vouvray! All very refreshing but no fireworks. Not so some terrific canapes, actually prepared by Ian and Chris Witter: homemade ocean trout gravlax with a tangy sauce on pumpernickel, and a rich savoury duck liver parfait simply served on crispbread.

Roger promised, and delivered, quality fillet of beef, with whole Angus fillets roasted blood pink, sliced and served with a classic sauce chasseur made on mushrooms, herbs and heaps of booze, with some crunchy dutch carrots and some little potato croquettes completing the plate. It all turned on the beef, and Roger certainly delivered. So did the wine master, with a 2009 Ch Peyredon Bordeaux from Haut-Medoc, juicy but savoury, and a 2008 Crozes-Hermitage from Dom de Clairmont, also refreshing if a bit thin on fruit.

The cheese was another triumph, a soft and sticky but fresh and clean fromager d'affinois from the Rhone-Alpes region of France, buttery and sweet with a soft lactic aftertaste. Simple green seedless grapes were an ideal accompaniment. The first accompanying wine was a 2004 Providence "Miguet" chardonnay from Tasmania, fully developed and showing top integration of fruit and acid to yield a fine match with the cheese. Also a match, but an even better wine, was the 2001 Seppelts Chalambar shiraz from Victoria, also well developed with a rich fruit overlay on classy tannins, and certainly the best wine of the day. Assorted ½ bottles of sticky whites were also in evidence, and soon accounted for.

Spencer Ferrier wound things up by giving a choice of a coffee made on Aceh beans form Indonesia, with strong chocolate characters in the mouth and a good long finish; and English Breakfast tea, but not as Mr Twinings knows it. Two perfect ways to finish a standout meal.

5th cook off and wine tasting 31 March 2015

It was a coincidence of gustatory pleasures, with James Hill in the kitchen doing the last of the cook offs for the 2014 COTY, and Paul Ferman providing a wholly masked bag of local and foreign reds and whites for the monthly wine tasting. It justified the huge attendance of 56.

First, the canapes, James providing something new in the form of a homemade olive bread, thin slices of a cakey bread flavoured with green olives, parmesan cheese and herbs; as well, freshly prepared rabbit rillettes, made with goose fat and a bit of pork as well as the seasonal bunny, served on thinly sliced Iggy's sourdough. The aperitif wine was the 2001 Tyrrells Vat 1, not an outstanding year and showing considerable bottle variation , with most tired and lifeless. Not so a Innocente manzanilla sherry also available, and appropriately sharp and tangy.

And so to the main event, a revisiting of James' mustard-braised pork neck with cognac. The necks were slow cooked for about 3 hours in stock with a mix of wholegrain mustard, brown sugar and herbs, then turned out and thickly carved. The sauce, enlivened by a hit of cognac and with prunes added, was poured over and the dish finished with garlic mashed potato and wilted silverbeet. Definitely sweet, as befits pork, but with balancing fire from the cognac and bitterness from the beet.

On the whole, the dish was well matched by the tasting lineup of 6 masked wines, 2 white and 4 red, with only an airy statement that there was a mix of Old and New World to help us. Wide and varied were the appraisals, but the wines were revealed as: 2008 Montmains 1er cru Chablis, still delicate and highly acid but a good foil for the sweetness in the food; 1999 Steingarten Riesling, deep gold and developed, perhaps a little too much so; 2009 Dom Fontaine, predominantly grenache from Gigondas in the S Rhone, a bit thin for the company; 2008 Craggy Range shiraz from New Zealand, big and intense with a meatiness that had many picking Spain or Italy; 2008 Trapio monastrell from Spain, a very well made wine that many picked as Bordeaux; and 2008 Lindemans Pyrus, really good drinking with a cabernets blend, and very popular.

The standard was maintained with the cheese, a rich, nutty caramel flavoured semi-soft number , finally identified by Ross MacDonald as a goat's milk cheese from Holland rejoicing in the name Midnight Moon. Certainly worth staying up for, and nicely balanced with some sliced Fuji apples and William pears.

The coffee, introduced by Spencer Ferrier, was a medium roast from NW Sumatra, pleasingly clean and bitter on the palate with an ok length. It was made even better by a birthday port from Gary Linnane. A splendid 1983 Stanton & Killeen, with heaps of rich sweet fruit and spirit to match, it was presented in magnums.

Lunch 24 March 2015

Ignoring the cracks about mothers-in-law, Royal Exchange Club manager and new member Will Hattersley talked to his, and came up with an authentic version of a dish from her native Haut-Savoie region of eastern France: raclette (although some recalcitrant Swiss persist in claiming the dish as theirs).

It was preceded by some canapes of smoked salmon with crème fraiche on crispbread and smoked oysters with a horseradish cream sauce on the same. None the worse for being a late inspiration, they were accompanied by a 2011 Tim Smith Eden Valley Riesling which was okay but uninspired with a hard finish and light fruit, and the Lustau manzanilla sherry, a regular aperitif with reliable style and salty bite proving a better match for the snacks.

The raclette dish was a community effort on the table, each of which was equipped with a special raclette grill brought in by Will for the occasion. Pieces of raclette cheese were grilled on trowels until melting and bubbly, then transferred to individual plates with ham and pastrami, boiled new potatoes, cocktail onions and cornichons provided to accompany, together with lots of good French baguette bread and a touch of chutney which soon vanished. Designed for sharing around a table after a hard day's skiing, the food went down surprisingly well on a typical humid Sydney day, helped by an eclectic lineup of wines: 2007 Tyrrells Steven Semillon; 2009 Ernst Triebaumer blaufrankisch from Austria; 2000 Ingoldby shiraz from McLaren Vale; and 2004 Majella Coonawarra cabernet. Opinions were divided on the best wine and best match: for many, the Steven was a terrific example of the fruitier style of Hunter semillon, but not quite up to the food, while the Austrian wine, with lighter, more acid characters than the other 3 reds was best with the food although outclassed as a drink by the remarkably smooth and rich shiraz and the big, slightly overripe Coonawarra.

The 4 wines were served together because there was, obviously, no cheese course. Instead, Will produced individually baked apple cakes, with good texture and pleasantly tart fruit, which were well washed down by a 2007 Ch Lafaurie Peyraguey Sauternes from France, luscious and starting to mature, fortuitously provided by birthday boy Peter Kelso. Coffee was a house blend of medium roast beans from Forsyths, full in the mouth with woody chocolate notes and a clean finish. It was made even better by a prune liqueur, made by Will's granfather, with plenty of fire but identifiable fruit from a bit of ageing.

4th cook off 17 March 2015

To be sure, it was reconstructed Irishman John O'Rourke in the kitchen for St Patricks Day, and the food was very much in theme. Although a finalist in the 2014 COTY, John had ruled himself out of contention as a previous 3-times winner, but that didn't stop him cooking up a storm.

To warm up, we had Guinness and oysters; the former needing no comment, and the latter a terrific example of large Sydney rocks, served in the shell, mainly unadorned except for a drop of lemon, but some with a bit of pickled ginger, nice but unnecessary. Also on hand was a 2010 The Yard chardonnay from Margaret River, light on fruit but refreshing and showing some development; and the ever-reliable Lustau manzanilla sherry.

So on to the main course, Irish stew but not as you know it. A big stock was made from lamb pieces and bones with aromatic vegetables including onion and leeks, to which was added cubed lamb leg and, at the last moment, diced carrot so that it retained crunch. The obligatory praties were cooked separately in stock for extra flavour and the stew mix poured over them before serving. Certainly too good for the peasants, this "stew" (more a casserole) was comfort food and not only for the Celts. Some great ciabatta bread from Haberfield Bakery helped to mop up the sauce. Wisely eschewing Irish wine, Paul Ferman provided a 2009 Olivers Taranga shiraz from McLaren Vale, with forward nose and medium strength fruit with a fresh finish which complemented the food. The other wine on the table was masked, and most picked it as Rhone, a choice vindicated when it was unveiled as a 2009 Mon Coeur Cotes du Rhone from Chave, a well-regarded maker. It was beaut, with intense rich fruit which will soften and become more complex with time.

John himself provided the cheese, or to be precise, the two cheeses, both of which floored the audience and which turned out to be sheep's milk cheeses from Tasmania (Grandvewe), one a manchego-style semi-hard cheese of some authenticity down to the grass-embossed rind, and the other a blue inspired by Roquefort, worthy but a little rubbery and lacking the intensely salty creaminess of the original. Whole fresh figs were an ideal accompaniment, as were a 2006 Bowen Coonawarra cabernet, and another masked wine, this time the 2005 Taylors Jaraman cabernet from Clare. The Bowen was true to area and maker, but a bit thin and sour, whilst the Taylors was complete, with perfectly ripe fruit balanced by long tannins, and to many the wine of the day.

The coffee came from New Guinea (a plantation once owned by Bob Oatley), a medium strength brew of good but not outstanding character. The kitchen leprechaun had one more surprise up his sleeve in the form of a liqueur from the same place as the cheese, made from the whey left over in the cheese-making process with vanilla added. Sweet and lactic, it took most back to the days of vanilla milkshakes; an interesting experiment which it is to be hoped will not soon be repeated .