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

Food

Gary Patterson was the chef of the day and assisted by his friend Neil Burn.

Gary promised Seafood Delights, and delight us he did. Gary your seafood soup has made us all forget about your beef cheeks.

Gary’s main was scallops, prawns and salmon in a rich soup with salad. The seafood was green banana prawns, Atlantic salmon fillets and scallops (roe off), I think they were saucer scallops of Japanese origin. Gary sourced the seafood from Faros Brothers in Marrickville.

Gary made the soup using prawn shells, white wine and sherry, herbs and spices including paprika. A brilliant soup base, with the seafoods carefully pan-fried before being added to the soup base. The soup was served with lemon wedges.

Gary loves his salads, and the salad with the soup didn’t disappoint. Iceberg, pine nuts, baby spinach, grape and cherry tomatoes, capsicum, red onion, carrot and avocado served with crumbed feta, it was well received and some of us put a squeeze of the lemon on the salad too.

Gary served one canape, a herring fillet from Norway on a blini and topped with a dob of sour cream and chives. President Bill helped prepare the canape. A quality herring, but the consensus was it should have been marinated in the sour cream before serving, and the blini was a little dry unfortunately.

Today we had coffee provided by Paul Ferman, a brilliant Australian coffee from Jaques Coffee Plantation, grown in Mareeba Queensland. Very well received and members wanted to see it again. And as Paul said, great to be able to support an Aussie-grown product.

https://jaquescoffee.com.au/

Cheese

Mark Bradford served us a very interesting and unique cheese (circa $100/kg wholesale).

Mark served Yarrawa Australia’s first raw milk cheese, from Pecora Dairy in Robertson, sheep’s milk (East Friesian sheep), a semi-hard farmhouse cheese. As per the description, “Named after the indigenous word for Robertson’s unique cool climate rainforest, Yarrawa has a supple paste with hints of butter, cashews, caramel and grass “.

Comments from Members were that the cheese wasn’t one of our favourites, it was dry served by itself and would have possibly been better served with fruit or a (quince) paste.

https://www.calendarcheese.com.au/product/cheese/hard-semi-hard-cheese/semi-hard-cheese/pecora-dairy-yarrawa-2kg/

Wine

Today’s Chef was Gary Patterson who served up a delicious seafood lunch with some very satisfying pass-arounds. See food review.

The wines for today were a very impressive collection of some quality whites and equally classy reds. Great choices by our stand-in Winemaster. The first two whites were a Petit Chablis from William Fevre 2019, followed by a Burings Leopold Riesling from Tasmania 2013.

The Chablis we have had often before 13% and always reliable. Given that it is the entry level for Chablis it was nonetheless an enjoyable wine. Quite acceptable with the accompanying

Food. Good structures with a nice clean finish. I did notice that when moving around the room, there seemed to be a degree of bottle variation with the colour, Some glasses I noticed were distinctly darker than others. Perhaps a red flag for more extended cellaring.

The next wine was a cracker, the Burings Leopold Tasmanian Riesling from 2013. Despite 10 years of bottle age, drinking like a charm, matured and balanced but still fresh and clean, with an excellent steely finish. 11.5%  This wine was I thought very typical of Riesling from Tasmania, with very floral overtones, but with a crisp finish, inviting another taste.

Leo Buring B 1886 in South Australia with the full given name of Herman Paul Leopold Buring, was the son of the founder of Buring and Sobel, for those who can remember that old wine company. A career in wine was a clear pathway for young Leo, who in turn became a household word in Australia by the 1940s and 50s. He recruited John Vickery in the 50s to craft Riesling as the company’s flagship wine and the rest is history, with the Team producing several classics in Riesling during the 60’s and 70’s. This wine bears Leo’s full name and is made from selected parcels of fruit from Tasmania. Intended to be Burings standout Riesling along with their Chateau Leonay. A great wine.

We were then treated, and I mean it, to two wonderful wines from Yabby Lake in Mornington Vic. First was the Chardonnay then a Pinot Noir. The Chardy was from 2010 at 13%. Utterly delicious, well developed now at 13 yo, but still fresh, with huge citrus overtones of delicate peach and enough remaining acid to power it through to a wonderful crisp mouth filling finish. One of the best Australian Chardys I have tasted. The Winemaker Tom Carson is rapidly carving out a reputation as one of our finest.

The second wine was the Pinot Noir, also from 2010. 14%. Classy wine, silky smooth with a fine tannin trace. Powerful PN aroma, with a lingering finish. A first-class wine.

We then moved on to the final two wines, both Shiraz, both from the wonderful vintage of 2014. First was the Shaw and Smith from the Adelaide Hills 14%. A terrific wine from this talented team who have the resources to create fine wines. Plush and velvety shiraz with spice and pepper and a hint of tannin, but in great balance.

We were blessed by our winemasters of past times in securing both the Shaw and Smith along with a  Society favourite, the Tyrrells Stevens Shiraz. What a treat.

2014 will go down in Hunter's history as one of the great Vintages in the last 50 years or more. This wine bore an eloquent illustration of this claim. Typical Hunter, medium body, tons of flavour, ripe fruit of plumb and cherry, restrained oak. This has always been one of my red wine favourites.

Having said that, I found myself preferring the Shaw and Smith. Big call I know, but on this occasion it was the first wine by a narrow margin, Wine experts always say you have to make a bottle-by-bottle comparison and today I thought the S and S was a little more alluring, refined and elegant. It was for me a case of THIS bottle, was my choice over THAT bottle. There, I’ve done it, shunned a Society Icon. Fire at will!