Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Members are constantly reminded that “wine lunches are all about the wines” – all of which were indeed exceptional – but so was the food; provided by Paul Irwin with the assistance of Society member Alan Langridge in the kitchen.  Given the time of year, a healthy turnout on the day.

Canapes

We started off with twice-cooked sticky pork belly, braised in Szechuan spices – being star anise, cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorns and red peppers in place of chilli – as well as soy sauce and brown sugar.

Following this, pork and shallot pot-sticker dumplings came around. These were pork and shallots marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce and white pepper. The fried lace (aka dumpling skirt) was a flour and water slurry.

Tasty, both received very favourable comments from the floor.

Main

Paul served Hainanese Chicken Rice for the main, a dish associated with China’s tropical resort island of Hainan, to the south-east of Hanoi. The meal was a delight to taste, sight and smell.  The chicken master stock comprised of shallots, ginger, coriander, garlic and onion.  Paul had worked on topping up this master stock over a couple of months and cooked the chicken sous-vide to ensure consistency of the quantity needed. The result was a moist and tasty chicken, even the breast portions.  A second sauce was served in individual bowls as a dipping sauce, using the master stock with grated ginger and garlic stock. The rice was cooked in the chicken oils and the stock on the day, and the chicken was also served with cucumbers, wilted Bok Choy, grated garlic and lime.  A six-week fermented hot sauce was also served (but deseeded to reduce the heat), co-fermented with garlic, coriander seeds and ginger.  The result was excellent, and seemingly a first at the Society for the members on the day. Much effort and skills were evident in the dish, which was accordingly met with favourable comments.

Cheese

The cheese presented was a Swiss Gruyere View AOP, from Fromagerie Aeschlenberg in Canton Fribourg, Switzerland. It was a cooperative unpasteurised hard cow cheese with a fat content of 45%, aged in alpine caves.

Dating back to the 13th century, Gruyere is the most popular cheese in Switzerland. The quality of the milk and area of production is strictly controlled under Swiss ‘Appellation’ but the quality varies between the cooperative dairies. The thick crusty rinded cheese was made by Jean Marie Dunand in the Le Cret sur Semsales dairy and carefully cave-ripened for at least 18 months. The condensed nutty texture is scattered with small horizontal fissures known as ‘lenures’ and tiny crystals of calcium lactate which add a deliciously sweet crunch to the powerful lingering nutty flavours.

Wine

A delicious meal was prepared for us today by Chef Du Jour Paul Irwin. Some very tasty pass arounds followed by a superb poached chicken main, finished off with a great cheese.

Our Wine master was away and in his absence, his deputies played the age-old game “when the cat’s away the mice will play”. As you can imagine, we had a pretty good afternoon.

We began with two Rieslings, a 2013 Meyer-Fonne from Alsace 12%, followed by an Egon Muller from the same year, a Mosel wine 10.5%. The first bottle of the Meyer-Fonne was a tad oxidised and not assessed. The second bottle was fine, 10 yo and drinking well, smooth and supple with a long dry finish. Very enjoyable, a quality wine. The second wine was a very typical German Riesling, possibly a Kabinett, with some obvious residual sugar. Great flavours, well balanced and enjoyable with the food. Even though this wine is towards the lower end of the sweetness spectrum in German Riesling, I found it not to my liking, a bit too sugary and I was not racing back for more. Years of drinking dryer Australian Rieslings has I think prejudiced my palate against the German style. Nothing wrong with the wine, quite excellent, just not nowadays my cup of tea.

The party really got started with the next bracket of six Reds, two top Aust PN, two top Burgundies and two state of the art Hunter Shiraz. All of this for $ 95? “Tell ‘em they‘re dreaming“ Only at the WFS.

The first two were the Pooley PN from Tasmania 13%, followed by the Farrside PN from Geelong Vic. 13.5% Both from 2014. The Pooley was from the Butchers Hill vineyard in the Coal River region near Hobart. Those ardent readers of this column will remember I reviewed this wine in my report of the 25th July lunch. In summary, my assessment was,   “outstanding “. On this occasion, we had the priceless opportunity to compare glass for glass two of our best PN. A wicked treat that I relished. The Farrside is Gary Farr’s top of his range in PN. The aroma of both wines was roughly the same, but the colour of the Farrside was somewhat darker than the Pooley. On tasting, the Farrside was more intense, with more complexity of flavour. Both wines had a long, typically PN lingering finish. To my taste, the Farr finished very slightly ahead on points, but really, there was not much in It.

The next two were the French Burgundies, both from the great 2015 Vintage, the Philippe Cheron Gevrey - Chambertin 1st Cru and then the Clegert Echezeaux Grand Cru. Wow, were we having a jolly old time here!! Upon first tasting, both wines were “dumb“ and half asleep, so I left them to sit in the glass. Probably the proximity of the two Aust PN ‘s with their intense fruit-driven flavours had some influence. I ventured back 20 minutes later and found that they had both developed in the glass and were beginning to show some of their undoubted class. It did seem to me that despite eight years since vintage, these wines need more time. Both wines were elegant, restrained and showed true class, which will probably be recognised in another 5 years or so. Just babies in my view, hope we are not drinking our 2015 stock too soon. With regard to the two wines today, nothing in it, but the Echezeaux by a close margin, just a tad more flavour and power.

To end this glorious afternoon, we were presented with two of our finest Shiraz from the Hunter both from the highly acclaimed vintage 2014. First was the Lindemans Reserve Bin 1400 14.5% and then the Tyrrells 4 Acres 14%, both wines in impeccable condition.

The Lindemans came from the famous Ben Ean vineyard acquired by the company in 1912, which along with the Sunshine vineyard nearby form two of the most prized vineyards in the Hunter. This was a superb wine, with great deeply coloured fruit, with a smooth silky finish delivering some soft tannins in the aftertaste. Traces of spicey pepper and blackberry.

The Tyrrells 4 Acres came from one of the oldest vineyards in the Hunter planted in 1879 in the Tyrrells Ashman vineyard. In direct comparison with the Lindemans, the 4 Acres was a little lighter in colour and texture, with great fruit and acid balance creating an elegant yet powerful wine with gentle tannins. Both wines showed the potential for extended further cellaring.

As to my choice, again nothing in it, but perhaps the Tyrrells with a little more complexity and elegance.

Thank you, deputy Winemasters, for this rare treat.