L38 – A Homemade Italian Pasta Treat for Our October Wine Lunch

Opening words from our President

A decent crowd of about 35 or so enjoyed an excellent Italian-style lunch prepared by Julian Parmegiani & his team. A terrific fresh pasta ragù, preceded by delicious canapés & finished off with some excellent cheese, was the order of the day. 

Wine report by Stephen O'Halloran

Our Wine Master had done a great job in securing for us a top-line collection of Italian Sangiovese wines, which accompanied the food perfectly. Always remember, Italian wines are made for food; drinking them alone does them an injustice.

The canapé wine was a Society treat, the 2017 Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling. We have had this wine on many occasions & it never fails to deliver. One of our most consistent, high-quality Australian wines. Now nine years old, @ 12.5%, crisp & full of flavour, this wine never misses. Louise Rose & her team do it year after year. Bravo to the team at PV. Enough said.

I will now move on to the red wines we had for lunch, all Sangiovese, either straight or in a blend.

Loyal readers of my reports over time will know that I simply cannot write individual assessments of the same grape six times. I run out of adjectives & clever/funny things to say, and/or insightful comments to make. After three bottles, my patience/lexicon is exhausted. So today, what I will do is give you my top three picks.

My favourite was the 2015 Fontodi Chianti Classico, @ 15% (wine number 3), a straight Sangiovese. By comparison to the others, much darker, near opaque. A top wine. Exotic flavours of dark cherry, tar & chocolate, luscious with a luxurious, long finish. A lover’s wine & a great food partner to boot!

My second wine was the 2010 Tenuta di Ghizzano @ 13.5% (wine number 6). A blend of Sangiovese 70% & Cabernet 30%. An opulent wine, rich in flavours of raspberry & blackberry, juicy mouthfeel, with medium weight & good tannin & acid at the finish. A very good wine.

My third choice was the Gaja Brunello blend 2006 @ 15% (wine number 5). A terrific food wine, now 20 years old, but still drinking well. Strong tannins mixed with some earthy overtones, producing a firm, satisfying finish. Showing signs of ageing, very enjoyable now, but not a keeper.

As to the rest, last place would be the Isole e Olena 2019. The others can fight it out for the minor placings.

Food report by James Hill

Canapés

Norbert Wyzenbeek prepared a ‘Caprese’ skewer of tomato, bocconcini and basil, with a dab of balsamic.

Rob Guthrie was up next with dates stuffed with mascarpone and fresh basil, wrapped in prosciutto.

Then came some puff pastry tarts with pesto, ricotta, zucchini and tomato. Yum!

Main

A course three days in the making! Julian started cooking his beef ragù on Sunday. The soffritto was made with garlic, celery, carrots and onion, boiled off with red wine, then the beef was added to the mix along with canned tomatoes.

Moist and full of flavour, the ragù sat on a bed of homemade pasta.

The pasta was handmade using flour, eggs and water – the magic of a Philips Pasta Maker, extruding the pasta in three minutes. It was then sprinkled with flour and laid out on the table to dry.

Freshly grated Parmigiano was passed around, along with extra bowls of ragù.

The main was served with a well-dressed mixed-leaf salad.

Many compliments on all aspects of today's meal, with the pasta a perfect match for the Sangiovese.

Cheese

Mark Bradford selected two Italian cheeses for our lunch today, both Italian but very different in style.

Taleggio – a washed-rind cow’s milk cheese from Italy.

Washed and brushed several times over a month, the cheese develops a thin bloom flecked with grey yeasts and blue Penicillium mould on its distinctive orange rind. Beneath the thin, crusty rind, the ivory texture of the cheese begins to change slowly as it ripens, becoming buttery and soft, balanced with a distinctive yeasty flavour.

Pecorino Sardo – a sheep’s milk cheese.

• Origin: Sardinia

• Ageing: 2 to 12 months (divided into dolce for younger and maturo for older styles).

• Texture & flavour: Ranging from sweet and delicate when young to firm, crumbly and sharp when aged; it can also be smoked.