"Unorthodoxy" hosted by Cameron

All members in attendance except for Alex Davies. Special Guest - Benjamin Icky.

The day started with a bang, with the Hendry's car getting kissed by a spinning car that had just been T boned. Fortunately no one was hurt. The theme was to be unorthodox, with points for matching food. On matching food and wine, i had a theory that younger more textured / tannic wines would go better with food, that proved to be false with older wines still providing greater pleasure. Matching an appropriately weighted wine with the food was of importance.

Entree
Bruschetta

Steve H - Giusto Di Notri Rosso Toscana 02. Dark fruits, tar, tongue puckering dusty velverty tannis almost nebbioloish. A powerful wine. Perhaps a little too big as an opening wine with bruschetta.

Dave H - Chateau Carbonnioux Grand Cru 06. Savoury red fruits, a lighter styled wine, hint of Ribena, minimal tannins and oak. The better food wine.

Tasting Plate
Skewered olive, marinated fetta and gravlax. Pan fried snapper with dill butter. Coconut prawns with lemon/lime.

Mark B - Penfolds Yattarna 02. A nose of stone fruits and oak, sauterne fruit flavours, solid intensity of flavours with a slightly sweet finish.

Steve B - Pieriopan La Rocca 07. Delicate and floral on the nose, minerals oak and butter flavours with a mid palate with some unusual tropical fruits. (Brought to the previous Weapon club but not picked by anyone)

Both wines shared similarities and went well with the seafood.

1st Course
Mini Arancini stuffed with stilton on poached pear salsa.

Paul B - Brown Brothers Moscato. Fizz, Sherbert, Fruit tingles, 7up sweetness. The look on Paul's face as he revealed... priceless "I grabbed the wrong brown paper bag from the fridge".

Steve B - MR Mountain Wine 07. Lychees, floral perfumes, musky and sweet finish.

2nd Course
Beef Bourguignon with crusty bread and salted butter.

Mark B - Vasse Felix Black Knight N/V. Inviting nose, Shirazy, oaky. The oak provided a nice contrast with the dish.

Jan - Morris Sparkling Durif. Red Currants, strawberry, missing a mid palate, lighter than the Black Knight.

3rd Course
Rack of Lamb with Garlic Mash

Tim - Viette Barbera D'alba Scaronne 05. Herby, tar, black fruits. Refined but firm tannins, black rose petals... not overly oaky, but too young.

Ben - Kanook Estate 05 Cab Sav. Black berry, plums, hint of mint, solid oak. Softer tannins suited lamb and mash better.

Surprise Course
Happs White fuscia... no comments

Paul B - Pierro SSB. Straw, citrus, dry and picked as a Riesling.

4th Course
Beef sliders wrapped in prosciutto , strawberries and a dollop of weapon sauce with hand cut fries and rosemary salt.

Steve H - A Napa Valley Shiraz 05, a little blown away by Cameron's wine.

Cameron - Yalumba Octavius 01. The nose on this wine got me really excited, it was the perfect balance of just enough age, oak, and fruit. Stewed fruits, hints of oil that added to complexity, soft tannins and oak. The beef sliders had moved over and the wine was centre stage.

For the record, i thought we had 2 cab savs.

Dessert
Roquefort with honeycomb, muscatels and crusty bread.

A difficult task to bring a dessert wine that isnt a dessert wine.

Dave - Joseph Moda (1997 i think)
Tim - Te Whare Ra "Toru" Gewurztraimer, Riesling, Pinot Gris.

I feel Dave's thoughts were to go with a big wine. I wanted to bring a floral & fun wine to end the day. Both wines didn't match the food and it was the first course that had a red up against a white. The red/white constrast detracted from both wines, confused tastebuds and probably made the food matching worse than it actually was. Thankfully Jan brought a Tokaji Aszu (5 puttonyos) to sweeten things up a bit.

My thoughts on the day were:

• An excellent line up of wines.
• The focus on matching food with wine brought an element of diversity to the wine selection and indirectly put wine back in the spotlight (but a refreshingly different spotlight).
• Stand out wine was Cameron's Yalumba Octavius. I will look at big wineries differently after that experience.   

Augusta Weapon Club hosted by Jan Ravet

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The menu was set early and it was a wide brief for those that got in early. I jumped at the chance to bring another white following success at the previous Weapon Club but was upstaged by a soave Italian.

Finger Foods - Duck, fried whiting and prawn thingamies.

Clonakilla Viognier 2008 (Tim L) - Light french oak, pear and ginger on the nose. Golden fruits with sufficient acid to match fried seafood. Long finish with lingering french oak on the back palate.

Pierro Pan - La Roca 2007 (Steve H)- Tremendous nose of tropical fruit with a hint of CWA ladies baking fruit cake with glace fruit / grandmothers fabric. Intriguing exotic palate that asked questions rather than gave answers. The La Roca is not a seafood wine as it has a slightly unbalanced finish between sweetness and acid but boy is it a more interesting drink!

Liver course - Pan fried duck liver with a reduction sauce, goose foie gras with truffle, duck foie gras with truffle.

Chateau Rayne Vigneau 01 (Dave H) - A young tropical Sauternes, classic french flavours

Chateau Liot 83 (Jan) - A hint of acetate on the nose that flows through the mid palate, more honeyed, vivid colour difference to the 01 above. The cork was on its last legs, crystals were starting to form in the bottle, any older and it would begin to look like Jewel Cave.

Both wines at their peak?

Meat - lots of it, Beef and Lamb standing rib roast. Perfectly cooked and rested. Nice crust on the outside.

Grant Burge Mesach 94 (Mark B) - Crimson / Brick, balanced, coconutty oak, intense black cherries and berries. At its peak.

Penfolds Magill Shiraz 96 (Steve B) - Lovely tannin, unashamed use of oak both french (62%) and American (38%).  Sweet berries, long oaky finish. I think I'm developing a preference for Shiraz with french oak.

Given the age of both wines, it was difficult to pick variety. Excellent choice of wines for the meat course. Made me give some thought to an all meat Argentinian Asado Weapon Club! Rib roast, short ribs, chorizo, morcilla, sweetbreads.

Dessert - Puree de Marrons Glace with Cream. Never tasted this before, reminded me of Kaya ( a coconut & egg jam) with chocolate.

Chateau Tokaji Aszu 2000 - This wine had 4 Puttonyos which equates to about 90grams of residual sugar. By comparison, about 45 grams of residual sugar is considered pretty sweet, but a bottle of Chateau Y'quem can be as high as 100 - 150grams of residual sugar...carefully balanced with acidity.

Pedro Ximenez Sherry Solera No 23 - Black Treacle, intense raisins and tar.

Thanks to Jan & Penny + cooks for a great event

Weapon Club hosted by Alex Davies & Paul Bossong

Only limited information was provided in the allocation of wine to members. Each member was told individually to bring a style of wine to match a dish, but did not know who they were paired against, or the style of the competing wine. It was a refreshing change that made it difficult to plan against the competition based on knowledge of their cellar and palate preference. All members were present at this event and special guest Sam Davies provided an educational insight on the use of oak in wine making.

Lobster beurre glanc with garlic crostini

Menetou - Salon Morogues 2006. (Steve Bossong). Flinty, minerally, steely, good length balance and mouthfeel. What I called a Chablis turned out to be a Sancerre. My pronounciation of french is terrible... "Cassoulet (LET) at Chez (CHEZ) Pierre" but i had to look hard at the label to see where it stated Sancerre and must confess that it did cross my mind that Salon could be pronouced as Sancerre. The appelation of Mentou - Salon adjoins Sancerre and shares the same soils so this 100% savignion blanc should just as well be a Sancerre.

Marc Bredif Vouvray 1996 (Timothy Lo). A fruity / floral nose distinctively french, honey, apricot almost a little sauterney, a long and slightly sweet finish. Thanks to "Nonna" at La Vigna for taking a stab in the dark and recommending this one. Jan picked the variety and the region having had a bottle 2 weeks earlier.

Craggy Range Pinot 2008 (Alex & Paul) 
Port Phillip Estate 2007 (Tim and Steve H)

2 Cherry Pinots. Not bad Pinots, but neither stood out or offered anything unusual. There was much debate about the range of pinots with Dave H calling for more strawberry pinots and Steve B commenting about the 19 clones of pinot.

Interlude - Sam Davies explaning what he's been up to in the last 2 years and sharing his knowledge about the differences between American and French oak. Followed by a taste of 2 Penfolds wines that use both types of oak.

Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz 2005 - French Oak (Jan). Big vanillin oak flavours, modest fruit. I like this wine for its unashmed use of oak, however it was so oak driven that i was sure it had to be brash American Oak. The points went to team Mark on this one.

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2006 - American Oak (Jan). Fleshy red fruit, firm tannins. Note from Sam - warm climate Shiraz generally sees a higher percentage of American oak

Morrocan Lamb

Mount Mary Cabernet 1984 (Steve H) - A wine touted as wine of the day... Brown / Brick colour Mild oil / diesel characteristics with some fruit still evident. Long lived for a 26 year old wine, but sadly on the downward slope.

Jack Mann Cabernet Savignion 2000 (Mark B) - Brickish colour, fine tannins, licorice, dark red berries. A well made wine that tastes expensive, but fruit from Frankland seems to struggle to find its own identity. Prefer Margaret River Cabernet.

The next 2 wines were selected as both wines were in the drinking window, but one at the start and the other at the end of the window. Both wines were the 2 best vintages in the last 30 years. Now at this point the memory starts to get a bit hazy but im pretty certain i claimed the 1994 vintage being at the start of the drinking window. (Please clarify notes from the book)

Wynns Michael Shiraz 1994 (Dave Hendry) - Well balanced, but slightly firmer tannins than 1999 and the fruit is a touch fresher.
Wynns Michael Shiraz 1999 (Mark B) - All the elements were toned down a notch compared to 1994 and i detected a hint of oil starting to peek through or do i have my left and right mixed up?

Quaffers
Peel Estate Zinfandel 01
Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz 04

Dessert - Magnum Ice Cream
Pedro Ximenez. Black Gold Viscosity, big powerful rasin flavours backed with high octane alcohol. Touted as one of the few wines that matches well with ice cream.

Cheese - a great selection including a sheeps milk brie that challenged me, and a peppered cheddar that defeated me.

Chateau De Malle Sauternes 2004 (Cam) - A young Sauternes with intense citrus and pineapple flavours, classic sauternes flavours. Go and buy it.

Thanks to Alex and Paul for organising a brilliant saturday afternoon with food and to Sam for sharing his knowledge with us.

Weapon Club - The Contiki Experience













The theme for the day was loosely based around food tasted on the Weapon's tour of Europe with International and Local wines to match. Guests included Tim Ravet who shared some wines from his Birth year (1983). Absentees included Alex Davies (aka The Phantom) and Paul Begley.

Starters - The United Kingdom
Fresh Shucked Oysters and Welsh Rare Bit.
Drinks - Bubbles.

Cloudy Bay Pelorous NV - fine bead, mousse and nutty yeast. A Quality sparkling wine that should be put up blind against champane.Jansz 2003 Vintage Pinot Chardonay - golden yellow in colour, large bead, the head disappeared rapidly after pouring, more complex nose, slightly different mouth feel to the Pelorous reflecting a higher proportion of Pinot in the blend. This wine brought up memories of a Vintage 64 trip to Jansz in Tasmania.
First Course - France
Foie Gras de Canard served on La Gallete Brioche and Pamplie Butter
Drinks - French Chablis & Australian Chardonnay

Jean Marc Brocard 2006 Montee de Tonnerre - pale straw in colour, mineraly, steel flint acidity with just a hint of oak. Apparently this is how Chablis should taste. It could almost be mistaken for a Riesling. Give me Aussie Chardonnay any day.
Ninth Island 2000 Chardonnay - Gold/Yellow. Nice weight of oak and floral stone fruit. I wasn't missing the bruising butter notes found in some big Margaret River Chardy's. Nice.

Intermezzo - A Superb Savoury Sorbet of tomato, basil and roasted capsicum.

Second Course - Spain
Paella - Squid, prawn, red emperor, mussel and topped with a yabby.
Drinks - light reds

La Vendimia 2008 Rioja - Funky
Gibbertson Valley 2006 Central Otago Pinot Noir - A complex black cherry pinot. The Weapon commented that it was just on the downward slope. I was too busy enjoying the Paella... give me another yabby head to suck on.

Third Course - Italy
San Danielle Proscuitto served with shaw river buffalo mozzarella, roma tomato salad and sliced italian black truffle.
Drinks - Cabernets

Houghton 2001 Jack Mann - A well made wine.... good on every aspect but lacking pizzazz.
Vasse Felix 1995 Hetsbury Cabernet - Mint, leaf and cigar box on the nose. Thrilling on the palate with vanilin oak that lingers forever (or was that my flavour saver?). S. Bossong pointed out that there was bucket loads of fruit on the wine, which i failed to notice as it had been integrated seamlessly into the wine with age. Very enjoyable.

Fourth Course - Greece
Lamb Kebabs with Tzatziki
Drinks - A Special Taste of wines from Tim Ravet's birth year.

Chateau Branaire Saint Julien 1983 - dead / diesel oil
Chateau Gloria Saint Julien 1983 - dead / hint of bonito flake.
"both dead, but died gracefully" .... Jan drink your wines while they are still alive.

Intermezzo Number Two - Beef Tea (A recreation of a little Jackson's restaurant number... reminded me of Viet Hoa beef noodles, but more intense, excellent)
Drinks- A premiere taste of shiraz

Penfolds St Henri 1998 - black pepper and beef, mulberry jam, soft tannins and cedar wood. A wine that has the structure to age. Pleasurable.

Fifth Course - Germany
Kartoffekloesse with Kassler and Sauerkraut
Drinks - Heavy reds

Cape Mentelle 1995 Zinfandel - After dinner must, eucalypt, licorice, alcoholic. Difficult to tell how old this wine was a range of years from 1996 to 2003 were suggested.
Campbells Rutherglen Shiraz Durif - Hot & Porty

Intermezzo Number Three - Sweet Sorbet

Dessert - Vatican City
Tiramisu
Drinks: Dessert Wine

Sauternes : 2005 something something... lots of pineapple. It was all a haze at this stage.

Cheese - Monaco
A delightful selection of cheese from the Smelly Cheese shop, visit their website here http://www.smellycheese.com.au/
Port: Sandalera Sandalford Port

Special thanks to Mark & Bossong family for preparing the food.
Note to self, actually take proper tasting notes next time.