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

Food

A cold but sunny winter’s day saw Rob Guthrie in the kitchen for the second time this year, following his Chef of the Year lamb rack entry in April.  He was assisted with canapes by Peter Kelso, Norbert Wyzenbeek and President Steve O’Halloran.

Canapes

Canapes were certainly aplenty, with suggestions by some that we return later to have the main served for dinner.

First cab off the rank was Norbert with his caprese bites, which we understood had some input from Norbert’s good wife, Sharon. This canapé has been seen several times in past lunches with the juxtaposition of the equally sized halved bocconcini balls and cherry tomatoes providing a colour contrast on the skewer.  However, we were outsmarted with a half quail egg used in lieu of the cheese, with a delightful matching dipping sauce instead of the traditional balsamic glaze.  The egg was a good substitute indeed.  Well done, Norbert!

Steve then did the rounds with his signature canapé: Jatz biscuits topped with goat’s cheese, white anchovies and a black olive. A good mouthfeel allrounder.

Finally, out came Peter’s cauli, pureed with onions, garlic and a bit of turmeric root softened in butter plus salt and pepper and a smidge of cayenne. Then served on toasts made by brushing white bread – crusts removed – with olive oil, cutting into squares and baking until crisp.

All canapes were a fine, if not filling, accompaniment to the Pewsey Vale Riesling.

Main

Rob served a carefully prepared roast spatchcock that was a delight to all of our senses.  The spatchcock was tunnel boned at the butcher, with the cavity being filled with a stuffing of pork mince, fennel, Swiss brown mushrooms, onion, sage, rosemary and chopped macadamia nuts as well as with sourdough breadcrumbs.  The bird was served with sliced macadamia nuts atop a chicken stock base sauce blended with truffle oil, truffle paste, eschalots and cream.  The sauce was reduced and thickened.

Around the birds were Dutch carrots tossed in garlic and parmesan, roasted, then tossed again in parmesan and drizzled with lime juice.  With this were beans cooked al dente in a honey mustard dressing made with white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and olive oil; drizzled with lemon juice prior to plating.

To round off the dish was potato gratin, with mandolin-sliced potato roasted in herb sauce made with chicken stock, eschalots, rosemary and thyme.

Comments on the high quality of this meal permeated loudly throughout the room, with the moisture in the skin, flesh and stuffing being especially notable.

Cheese

The Cheesemaster presented Emmental Français, a cave ripened raw cow’s milk cheese made south-west of Lyon.  Being pale in colour instead of bright yellow, the cheese did not come to the table in good condition and its lack of any real flavour was noted by many of the members.

The cheese was accompanied with lemon/lime curd with ginger and walnuts.

Bread

The bread served today was wholemeal sourdough from the Organic Bread Bar in Paddington.

Wine

Rob Guthrie was our chef du jour yesterday, and did a sterling job, assisted by Julian in the kitchen and Norbert, Peter Kelso and yours truly with the canapés.  Overall, a great success. See the food report for a full description. 

In the Wine Dept we kicked off with a 2023 Pewsey Vale riesling at 11.5%. This wine never fails to deliver a crisp, well-balanced wine with plenty of acidity and a clean finish.  Always a delight to drink and a perfect partner to the various canapés we enjoyed. This Eden Valley wine was one of the first wines in Australia to be bottled under screw cap, and what a triumph that has turned out to be. I don't think I have ever had a dud bottle of this wine. Same goes with big brother, the Contours, terrific wine never disappoints. 

First of the luncheon wines was the Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2014 at 12.5%. Wow, what a wine! Exceptional in my view. This 11 yo wine was drinking superbly. The colour was green/gold, no sign of browning, with still sufficient acid to make it clean and mouth-filling with a persistent finish. Traces of stone fruits and melon with a dash of grapefruit. Wonderful! A wine produced by cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith [Yalumba], this pair set about in 1989 buying prime wine growing real estate both in SA and Tasmania, and engaged some of the top wine makers in the country to produce wines such as this and the prestigious Tolpuddle Chardy. Their method was to combine big money, the best sites and top wine makers. Simple. I would rate this wine equally with some of the great French White Burgundies. Not the same in terms of taste and texture, but equally enjoyable. Perhaps bigger flavours than the more restrained French, but this is the Australian style of our Chardy at its best. My wine of the day. 

Next wine was a Nebbiolo Rosso from Langhe 2010 at 14.5%, a wine from the Piedmont region of Italy. I find myself in an almost continual struggle with this grape. Now a 15 yo wine, it still refuses to let go of its traditional lines of defence, namely strong tannins, strong acidity and unyielding hardness. All systems were in place for my first taste. You could pick it as a Nebbiolo from a sip, that confrontational regime Nebbiolo is famous for very evident. But, to give the wine credit, I found myself actually enjoying it after I had breached its defences. Mature, balanced correctly, a good food wine.  If you were drinking this wine while on holiday in Italy with that recognised overseas holiday halo effect, you'd love it! 

The second last wine was the Andrew Thomas Hunter Semillon at 10.3% 2015. This man has become, over time, arguably the best wine maker in the Hunter. I really liked this wine, it initially attracted me by its bright, clear, gleaming gold/green appearance. On tasting the wine, I was impressed by its typical Hunter flavours of lanolin and toasty vanilla hints. Soft and gentle acids delivered a firm, clean finish. A very nice wine with plenty of time ahead. 

The last wine of the day was one of my favourite Australian reds, the Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2006 at 13.5%. A wine made from the pick of Grampians Shiraz and only made in years of excellent vintage. The St Peters vineyard at Seppelt is on land once owned by Best's, who sold part of it to Bruno Seppelt in the 1880s. These two historical wineries sit opposite each other on either side of Best's Rd, GT Western Vic. This wine is now 19 yo and is holding together superbly. Inky black, no browning, still showing all those classic Shiraz spice and pepper hints, with deep black fruits evident on the palate. A velvety smooth finish. My only mark against the wine, preventing it from higher praise, was a little flatness in flavour at the finish. Perhaps after 19 years, the acids were just starting to fade a tad. Otherwise a real treat.