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

Food

An autumnal April Wine Lunch today, with Nick Reynolds presenting his “Clone Wars” from the cellar and James Hill in the kitchen.  Both experts go far beyond the call of duty when it comes to their contribution to the Society.  Not surprisingly, a near to full room for this lunch.

Canapés

We commenced with celeriac rémoulade with olives, served in China spoons. A very popular salad in France, these had a wonderful texture and a tangy bite, and flavour enhanced by the olives on top.

Our second canapé was tomato soup in a shot glass with basil.  These worked very well with the abundant chardonnay on offer.

Former President, Chef of the Year and Alexiou trophy winner Peter Kelso helped out with a canapé of anchovy puffs to round out the hand arounds.

Main

James presented us with seared duck breast today; as always, a great match with the pinot noir clones.  The duck was delicious, cooked to perfection and served with a mash of cauliflower and potato and al dente snow beans, and a decoration of a baked half plum with leeks and brandy.  A former Master of renown, when speaking to the room, intimated that this is the standard expected of James, and that he never disappoints.  An excellent dish worthy of any top-end restaurant in town.

Cheese

In theme with pinot, the Cheese Master served Burgundian Fromagerie Berthaut Epoisses PDO, an artisan washed rind cow’s milk cheese.  Revived in 1955, Epoisses PDO was originally developed by Cistercian monks at the Abbaye de Fontenay near the town of Semur in Burgundy.  Regular washing with a brine mix of Marc de Bourgogne encourages the B linen bacteria to create a sticky golden rind and distinct, strong yeasty aroma.

The wooden box creates the perfect microclimate for ripening, whilst providing support to the delicate cheese.  When ripe, a mixture of salty, sweet and milky flavours dominates the palate, with a smooth melting texture and rich meaty taste.

James served this with a tasty pear and rocket salad with a honey mustard dressing.

The bread was baguettes from AP Bakery.

Wine

Today marked 255 years since James Cook stepped onto the shore of Botany Bay. A momentous day in the history of this country, the Old World meeting the New World. Not that you would ever hear or read about it from the media. We are indeed a strange country! 

Anyhow, we enjoyed a terrific meal from master Chef James Hill, and some superb Pinot wines from our Wine Master Nick Reynolds. Sincere thanks to both for their considerable efforts to put on this first-rate meal.   The Food report will follow. 

The aperitif wine was a Soumah Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley 2023, 13.3%. This wine was a good example of the old saying that one man's meat is another man's poison. 

There were strongly expressed views around the room, ranging from strongly approve to strongly disapprove of this wine. Were we all drinking the same wine?  For my part, I really enjoyed it, except for my first sip, which had a strange taste, but which soon disappeared. The wine to me was balanced and quite elegant, no detectable oak, great flavour with hints of stone fruits and melon. Nice crisp feel on the palate. Finished well. Excellent with the canapés.  I am sorry others did not enjoy it. So it goes.

We then moved on to the main event, the roast duck with Pinot Noir. What could go wrong? Fortunately, nothing. We had four wines from Helen's Hill in the Yarra Valley. One from Otway Wines in the Otway Rangers, Vic and one from Tasmania, the Pooley Cooinda Vale. 

All of these wines were single clone Pinots, four from 2022 and two from 2021. All of the Helen Hill wines were 12.8%, and the other two were 13%.

The first wine was the Clone 943, aka the Dijon clone. The second wine, the Smuggler, was the Abel Clone. The Otway was the Abel again. The fourth wine, Pooley, was the Abel again, and the fifth and sixth wines were MV 6 Clone in the First Light PN, and the D4V5 clone was the last wine the, Rangeview.  

Nick Reynolds had kindly made available to the room printouts of the details of the various clones we enjoyed. I do not intend to review each wine, as saying something interesting about six bottles of the same grape variety is, for me at least, a bridge too far. I will give you my thoughts generally.

The Helen Hill wines were, with the exception of the last wine, Rangeview Reserve, thinnish and lacked depth. A common problem with Australian Pinot. To my taste they were sharp and a touch acidic on the first taste and generally did not show any of the desirable strawberry and cherry flavours of a quality PN. On the other hand, the Rangeview Reserve was an attractive, enjoyable wine, with much more depth, rich and smooth, packed with powerful dark fruit flavour. A wine with some gentle tannin and a lingering finish. By far the pick of the bunch of the Helen Hill wines, most enjoyable. 

The Otway Pinot I found to be a good quality wine, with some pleasing PN traits. More body than the two preceding wines and more depth of flavour. Quite elegant, deep crimson, well balanced. 

The star of the show was without question the Pooley. Beautiful wine, but at nearly twice the price ($140) of the others, you would expect something really good for your outlay. In any event, leaving aside the tawdry issue of money, this was a truly great wine. Just about everything you would expect in a top-flight PN, from anywhere!  Powerful, but restrained, much more depth than the others, cherry, strawberry, spice overtones, great balance with just enough acid for a delightful finish. You guessed it, my wine of the day!