Wine Lunch 28 April 2026

Steve Liebeskind

The Food - by Mark Bradford

A pleasant autumn afternoon for our third wine tasting lunch of the year, with the theme being Spanish.  Chef of the day Steve Liebeskind also went Spanish in the kitchen, with a little flamenco here and there while preparing the meal.  David Simmonds assisted Steve by assembling the canapés.

Canapés

Steve served us three Spanish canapes, or pinchos (pintxos in Basque).

These were marinated mushroom with roasted capsicum with an olive on a spoon.  Then came a sardine, tomato chutney and sun-dried tomato on toast.  Finally, zucchini with tarragon, a small bocconcini and topped with a white anchovy on a spoon.

Ole!  A great start to the afternoon.

Main

The plato principal was lamb, or cordero.

Steve slow cooked lamb shoulder for10 hours following a 24-hour rub of garlic, smoked paprika and olive oil.   It was then cooked on a rue of onions, celery and carrots.

During plating, the vegetables were processed and used as a base for the lamb.  The broth from cooking – excluding the fat - was reserved and used for plating. The meal was accompanied by ratatouille (Spanish style), duck fat roasted potatoes and beans.

A great match with the Spanish wines on show today.

Cheese

As requested by Steve, a society favourite – Ossau Iraty – was sourced by the Cheese Master. Although French, it is from the Basque region of the Pyrenees.

Basque cheese making traditions date back at least 4000 years.  Onetik is the largest dairy cooperative in the French Basque region collecting milk from 250 dairies across the Ossau Valley and Iraty Forest.  Only milk from the local breeds of sheep: Manech and Basco-Bearnaise and traditional techniques can be used under PDO conditions.  An uncooked, pressed curd cheese, the rind is washed and hand salted during six months maturation which encourages a hard crusty rind.  It develops a succulent firm texture and complex flavour, developing notes of hazelnut and a slightly sweet finish.

Steve – or Esteban as he had become by now – served a wonderful salad of mixed lettuce with a dressing of oil and white balsamic and served with pear to accompany the cheese.

Wine Report - by Stephen O'Halloran

Today we were treated to some very fine Spanish fare from Steve Liebeskind. Wine Master Nick Reynolds scoured Spain for wines from a range of regions, and Mark Bradford rounded things out with his usual delicious cheese from the Basque country.

We opened proceedings with a Society favourite canapé wine, the Valminor Albariño 2022 (13%). We have seen this wine on several occasions and it always hits the spot with the canapés. Quite acidic, with a lively blend of excellent fruit and biting freshness. Mouth‑filling but dry, with a persistent and enjoyable finish. Pale yellow in colour, clean and refreshing — a wonderful partner for our Spanish tapas. A great way to start.

Unfortunately, that is about as far as the favourable comments go regarding the wines, with one exception.

The luncheon wines — six in total — were drawn from different regions of Spain and made from different grape varieties. They were all quite expensive. No dead wood here; only the best for the best. Very sadly, in my view, five of these wines did not live up to the hype. So much so that I do not intend to review the first five individually, as they were, in my view, well below the standard of red wines we regularly enjoy at our lunches.

I accept that these comments will disappoint our Wine Master, who put a great deal of time and effort into procuring these wines, providing each table with a map of Spain showing their origins, along with commentary on each wine. However, as I have said on prior occasions, I value my integrity when reporting, and I call it as I see it on the day.

The only wine of any class was Wine 6, a straight Tempranillo — Antídoto 2020 (14.5%), from Bertrand Sourdais. An enjoyable wine with excellent fruit and plenty of tannin. Sufficient acidity to give it good balance. Smooth and very drinkable, though not in any way outstanding.

So that’s it — certainly my shortest report ever.

To finish, I should note that at the end of lunch, in accordance with tradition, we drank a delicious Armagnac in a toast to our recently deceased member, Peter Karr.

The wines not reported upon were in order of service;  1  Guimaro Mundin      { Rio Mino } 2020 Mencia.   2  Guimaro San Pedro  {Rio Sil } 2020 Mencia.  3    Luis Anxo  A Torna dos Pasas 2023  Brancello.  4 Alvaro Palacious  Camins del Priorat 2020  Garnacha / Carinyena.   5  Alvaro Palacios  Les Terrasses 2020  Garnacha / Samso.