Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

A full house today for a Greek-themed lunch prepared by our Chef of the Day and Cellarmaster Nick Reynolds.

Canapes

Filetto di Maiale Tonnato

Pork tenderloin with tuna sauce was garnished with deep-fried salted capers. This was a superb dish and rather than use traditional veal Nick substituted pork tenderloin. It was tender and topped with the flavourful tonnato.

Then came hummus tartlets garnished with fried chickpea.

Bill Alexiou provided some white tarama with home-cured olive dice on toasts.

Plentiful and great flavours to kick off our lunch.

Main

Nick cooked Janni Kyritsis’ slow-cooked lamb shoulder cured in a coating of salt, fennel and oregano, cooked with garlic, lemon and green olives. Served on Japanese eggplant, zucchini, and pearl couscous and garnished with gremolata and cooking juices.

Nick had slow-cooked the lamb in an oven and had prepped the lamb by vacuum sealing it for reheating it sous vide, thus retaining its unctuous moistness. When it came to finishing off in the REX kitchen, it overloaded the powerboard. Some were finished in the oven and some sous vide.

This led to some plate variation with comments on the moistness of the lamb with the suggestion more jus may have been considered. 

A lot of preparation was evident in the dish today within good robust flavours with vegetables and pearl couscous perfectly complementing the dish.

Thanks Nick.

Cheese

Cheese today was Kefalotyri a hard salty white cheese made from sheep and goat from Greece.

Aphrodite Kefalotyri is hand-made especially in the small, fertile town of Epirus, located in northwestern Greece, using a traditional recipe combining ewe’s and goat’s milk. Fresh milk is collected on a seasonal basis from shepherds’ milking animals that freely forage on the natural vegetation growing on the steep, rugged mountain slopes of the region.

After pressing and brine salting, the cheese is ripened for 3 to 4 months until the hard, slightly irregular texture has developed a mild, distinctively herbaceous tang. Traditional Kefalotyri is considered to be the authentic cheese used for Saganaki in Greece. When pan-fried in thick slices, the combination of non-bovine milks produces a dish with a delicious brown crust, rich moist texture and lingering savoury finish.

It was served in two ways:

Raw and as Saganaki fried both sides with honey, fresh oregano and sesame seeds, with some dried figs and apricots accompanying both versions.

Quote of the day

"A fine wine may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure." - Czech Proverb

James Hill

Wine

A nearly full house was present for our lunch today, and it was indeed a good one. We had some excellent pass-arounds prepared by our chef de jour Nick Reynolds and the first wine was a Gundog Estate Hunter Semillon 2019. 11% with 2019 being rated a 9/10 year. This is a well-regarded winery near Pokolbin. Now 4 years old and beginning to show typical Hunter Semillon flavours. I would like to see it again in a few years when it has built up some more complexity. At the moment an enjoyable wine, quite acceptable and even dare I say “nice“. I am aware that this word inspires an instant hostile reaction from some of our luminaries who regard the use of the word in describing a wine as blasphemy, with appropriate looks of strong censure, and implied threats of a Jihad being imposed upon the heathen uttering this word.

Upon reflection, I do not think such a Fatwa upon the use of the word “nice“ is called for. After all, it is a word in the English language that is clearly understood, meaning “giving pleasure, satisfaction, agreeable, delightful“. Why should a wine if meeting that description, not be referred to as such? I am puzzled. I do not wish to antagonise our esteemed and respected senior members by repeated use of the word, but no doubt it will appear occasionally when appropriate. I have made my Will and my affairs are in order. Fire at will!

There were two other wines served, a French Rose and a Tyrrells Semillon and a sherry, both of which I did not get to taste. The Rose was from Provence, very typical of the style. Bone dry, but a good food wine.

Moving along to the lunch wines, we kicked off with a Dolcetto d’Alba 2020 from Luigi Pira. This sweet little number as it is known, was quite sound, very dry with noticeable tannin influence. Restrained flavour, light texture. Mixed opinions around the room.

Red wine no 2 was a Grenache from the highly respected winemaker Steve Pannell. This chap has an impeccable pedigree, being the son of the famous Bill Pannell of Moss Wood.

The wine was straight Grenache from McLaren Vale. 14%, rated a 8/10 year. Great fruit, medium texture, typical grenache overtones. Would like to see the wine in 2/3 years. I am delighted to see this grape variety working its way into our cellar, either as a straight varietal or as a GSM blend. Bring them on!

Red no 3 was the Wynns Coonawarra Shiraz 2009. 13.5% with 09 rated a 8/9 year. This El Cheapo was a surprise package. Enjoyable for an inexpensive Shiraz now 13yo. Was never going to hit great heights, but excellent value for money.

Wine no 4 was my firm favourite of the day, the John Duval Entity Shiraz from 2008. An excellent year in the Barossa, 14.5%, a big wine, but superbly balanced. Wonderful fruit with voluptuous texture and flavour. This was a truly great wine from a master winemaker. Lovely soft tannins and a lingering finish. How lucky were we?

Next cab off the rank was a Glandore Estate Hunter Tempranillo from 2011. 13.9% A year rated highly in the Hunter, I really liked this wine, being a fan of Tempranillo. A very flavoursome wine with, nice integration of tannin, oak and fruit. Good food wine and it went very well with the lamb main. Good prospects for future development.

A wine that was not an official starter was the Rosemont Mountain Blue from Mudgee 1999. A Cabernet Shiraz blend . Despite it now being a 24 yo wine, I was really impressed. I could only enjoy a small amount, but what I tasted was excellent. Beautiful intense stewed fruit flavours, with a powerful finish. All key components still hanging together to produce a fine wine, better than nice!