Food review by  Mark Bradford, assisted by Frank Liebeskind, and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Today saw only 30 members enjoy a terrific lunch.  Society Treasurer, former President, three-time Chef of the Year and twice Alexiou trophy winner, Steve Liebeskind, was in the kitchen doing wonderful things with duck or was it chicken?  He was assisted with canapés on the day by Paul Gibson and Dennis Cooper.

Canapés

Steve served three canapés today.

The first canapé was Steve’s often served and more than reliable chicken liver pâté.  This home-made starter is based on chicken livers, served on a slice of baguette with a cornichon.  An excellent starter to get the mouth flavours working.

Second was Steve’s home-smoked chicken breast, served on a small witlof leaf and topped with red currant jelly and a walnut.  This great new canapé was very innovative and full of flavour.

The final pass around was the big flavour bomb, Steve’s pickled zucchini slices, served on a spoon, topped with half a baby bocconcini, and rounded off with a white anchovy.

All of the offerings received very positive comments and were a good accompaniment to the starter wines.

Main

Anyone for confit duck?  No, let’s try confit chicken.  The marylands had four hours in Paul Thorne’s famous duck fat, with herbs and spices, and then a quick pan fry at the REX and kept warm in the REX ovens.  The confit chicken sat atop Steve’s now famous braised red cabbage, with onions, white balsamic vinegar and sweetened with brown sugar.  But wait, there was more duck!  Duck-fat roasted diced potatoes and caramelised brown onions, with a spare bowl of potatoes for the table.  Also served with oven-cooked asparagus and a jus of chilli jam with mushroom broth.

This was a terrifically balanced main, and to this scribe a great match with the Australian pinot and shiraz wines.  The chicken was moist and fell off the bone.  As Frank Leibeskind noted, “a great example of the meat being sweeter near the bone”.

Cheese

Requested by the Chef of the Day and sourced by the Cheese Master, today’s fromage was d’Affinois Excellence Triple Crème, from Fromagerie Guilloteau.  Using an innovative method called ultrafiltration, Jean Claude Guilloteau pioneered a new method of cheese making in the 1980s that created a luscious and velvety cheese, naturally richer in proteins and minerals.

The cheese is made in Belley, a small town nestled at the foothills of the picturesque French Alps, surrounded by ancient forests and famous for its many waterfalls.  Local farmers supply the dairy with luscious milk from their herds of Montbeliardes and Holstein cows that graze on dense pastures nearby.  Excellence Triple Cream has a smoothness and infinite sweetness due to the extra cream that is added during cheese making, and an elegant, silky-buttery mouth feel.

Steve provided a wonderful accompaniment to the cheese.  A salad of iceberg and baby spinach, roasted red capsicums and pan-fried pine nuts, with thinly-sliced pears.  This was served with a vinaigrette of olive oil, white balsamic, mustard and honey, combined to give some sharpness, freshness, crunch and sweetness, going well with the d’Affinois that was acclaimed on the day by the members.

Wine

A turnout of about 30 members gathered to enjoy what was to become a first-class afternoon of food and wine. Steve Liebeskind, our chef du jour, produced an excellent chicken confit accompanied by duck fat roasted potatoes and delicious vegetable trimmings. Overall, a terrific meal. Well done Steve. 

We got the show on the road with a brilliant Hunter Sem, the Tyrrells HVD 2019 10.5%, which matched perfectly with the canapes. This was a seriously good Sem, glorious colour, pale yellow with greenish tint, brilliantly clear, clean and fresh. The wine was in magnificent condition, with intense flavours of apple, lemon peel and grassy overtones. Powerful fruit, but at the same time quite delicate in its mouthfeel. Impeccable finish, inviting another glass or three. 2019 in the Hunter was a top year for Sem, and this wine, with its intensity and length, demonstrated the quality of that vintage for Sem. My number two wine of the day.

Wine one on the main course wine list was the Port Phillip Estate 2023 Pinot Noir @ 13.5%. This was a light-bodied Pinot with plenty of raspberry flavours on the palate initially, but soon fading. The colour was pinkish/light red with some warm, earthy spice. Low tannins, but some noticeable acidity, which would probably reduce with time. Overall, an enjoyable wine that paired well with the main course. A little bit more body and depth of flavour would not have gone astray. 

The second wine on the Main Course list was my pick for the wine of the day, the Tyrrells Old Hut Shiraz 2014 @ 14.2%. I think it is fair to say that Vintage 2014 is regarded as one of the best vintages in the Hunter in recent decades for Shiraz. There will be some debate on this issue as the assessment process is subjective, however, from my perspective, having drunk many 2014 Hunter reds from various producers, including Tyrrells, this vintage is outstanding, never failing to deliver a great glass of wine.  The Old Hut vineyard was planted in 2003 from cuttings taken from the 4 Acres vineyard, the oldest vineyard in the Tyrrells stable, planted in 1879. 

I found this wine to be utterly delicious, rich, voluptuous and spicy. Perfect integration of tannin and oak, muscular but in perfect balance. A full-bodied wine, brimming with ripe black fruits and sufficient acid to ensure a classic Hunter Shiraz finish, lingering and powerful. A great wine. 

Final wine of the day that everybody drank was the Origines New England district Chardonnay 2023 @ 12.5%. I have certainly never drunk this wine before, and I cannot recall ever drinking a wine from this region in the past. The wine presented well, light green / gold in colour, clear and fresh tasting. That is where the compliments end. Put simply, I found the wine to be very acidic on the front palate, but then, leaving the palate in great haste, disappearing without a trace of flavour. None of that rich mouth-filling citrus fruit, melon flavours we expect from Chardonnay. A nondescript wine, entirely forgettable, I certainly will not be rushing out to buy any. I noticed on the label that the wine is promoted as being vegan-friendly, a tag I have not seen on a bottle of wine before. I am sure that we can all retire to our beds at night, comfortable in the knowledge that the Vegans of this world approve of this wine. That's comforting I know!