James Hill once again lobbed into the kitchen with a completely new armoury of dishes for us to enjoy. He had assistance from Gary Linnane, Nick Reynolds and others.

Canapés. Two canapes were provided by James. The first was salted blue-eyed trevalla 'Baccalà’ served with potato crisps James' take on "fish and chips". The second was smoked trout "parfait"  served on rounds of Iggys bagel. The former has formed a great salty offset to the Riesling.

Aperitif wine. Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling 2006 was served after the starting gun was sounded by Paul Ferman. An excellent wine at its peak. Minerally, flinty, limes, floral overtones and finishing dry.

Main course. James presented us with a wonderful lamb pie. We all love a pie and not a potted pie but a real pastry pie. The lamb shoulder was slow cooked, combined with allspice,garic onion and made into “meat ball’ portions which were wrapped into pastry pies. A wonderful look. They were baked and served with portobello mushrooms cooked with garlic and served underneath the pie in a light jus with parsley ,tarragon and chives.Accompanying the pie was char grilled asparagus served with butter.

The wines.

• Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino 2006 (cork, 13.5%)
• Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino (cork, 14.5%)
• Bowen Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (screwcap, 13.5%)
• Vincent Giradin Saint-Vincent Bourgogne 2012 (cork, 13%)
• Tyrrells Stevens Semillon 2004 (screwcap, 11%)

Thanks to the generosity of Richard Gibson, we enjoyed two Brunellos from the fabulous 2006 Montalcino vintage. These are sangiovese royalty. Locally the grape can be referred to as brunello or sangiovese grosso. Both were plush and savoury with delicious sweet, soft overtones. The Fuligni was a full 1% higher in alcohol (at least by the label) and was arguably the better of the two with a little bit more richness. A treat.

The Bowen with its sweeter Australian style struggled against the savoury Tuscans. Nevertheless, it is an excellent Australian Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon.

The cheese wines started with the Giradin Burgundy which did not lack sweet fruit but was a little flat and overdeveloped. The 2004 Semillon was in great shape with nice fruit/acid balance and great mouthfeel. The Tyrrells was the better match by a country mile.

Cheese and coffee. James Healey provided a favourite in aged Comte. It was a Will Studd La Couronne. Made from unpasteurised cow’s milk in the Franche-Comte region. Nutty and elegant. Wonderful. This was served with a salad of iceberg, radish, Dijon mustard and an olive oil based dressing.

In absentia, Spencer provided us Forsythe’s Blend from our main coffee provide.

Well done James and again our appreciation to Richard Gibson for the Brunello.