BEEFSTEAK AND BURGUNDY 60^th ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION
ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA

10^th T0 12^th OCTOBER 2014

Preamble

For Jill and me this was our 22^nd consecutive convention. We drove to South Australia a week before the convention, staying at the mid north town of Jamestown, Jill’s home town and where we met nearly 50 years ago. We did some hard training in preparation for the convention including the annual Jamestown Racing Club meeting where we enjoyed the local wines under the Bundaleer label. It was then on to a few days at Nuriootpa before we arrived at The Oaks Embassy Apartments North Terrace on Friday afternoon.

 

Registration

Registration took place at the nearby Banksia Room at the InterContinental Hotel from 3 to 6 pm. We arrived at about 4pm. It was not hard to find as there was a great buzz coming from the excited delegates, many of whom we know from past conventions and we were soon with them talking over old times. Some delegates had done the pre convention trip to Kangaroo Island (where I lived for twelve months in 1959) from 8 October returning that afternoon. They enjoyed the trip. We collected our welcoming kit, a change from previous conventions when each person received a kit. This day it was one for couples and another for single delegates. There was Wicks 2011 Chardonnay Pinot Noir Sparkling wine served. I think it was only supposed to be a glass per delegate but I could never imagine that happening and they soon ran out. Having Wicks wine was special for us as we know the proprietors, who are friends of one of Jill’s sisters, so very South Australian is it not?  We then made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the Welcome Dinner.

 

It gave us an opportunity to examine the contents of our welcoming pack. It contained:

• Lanyards to be presented to gain entry to all functions. Our names were printed on the front but they did have a tendency to flip over and we often found ourselves addressing people as “Programme of Events” which was printed on the other side!
• Two monogrammed note books and accompanying pens
• A monogrammed black floppy hat
• A monogrammed red cap
• A monogrammed tea towel
• Visitor Guides to Adelaide, Adelaide Hills, Barossa and map of Adelaide and suburbs
• Information about wine auctions, wine courses and single malt whiskies
• Order form for the Convention Wine Dozen featuring five white and five red wines, all Gold Medal winners at the 2014 Royal Adelaide Wine Show plus a Wicks Estate Sparkling NV Gold medal winner and a Rosemount GSM trophy and Gold Medal winner at Melbourne and Sydney wine shows. Cost $250 plus $5 delivery S.A. and $10 interstate.
• A 56 page convention hand book

The handbook contained a wealth of information including messages from the Minister for Tourism, Lord Mayor, Adelaide Club President Paul Kershaw, a condensed history of B&B, past and future conventions, wine selection criteria for the convention, details of the food and wines we were to enjoy, master class details, lists of attendees showing (at my rough count) 47 clubs represented by 214 delegates, list of chartered clubs and various things to do in Adelaide.

 

 

Welcome Dinner

The dinner was held at the Hickinbotham Hall at The National Wine Centre. It is located about 2ks from where most of us were staying, a bit far to walk for the ladies in high heels. Delegates were surprised to find that they could only get a one way $10 taxi voucher per couple at registration.

When we arrived we joined the gathering of delegates on the terrace enjoying canapés and Bundaleer Sparkling Shiraz NV, one of the wines we had at the Jamestown Races. Table seating was free choice and we found ourselves with old friends from Sheoak Hill Club at Sunbury and the Vandenbergs from John Bowen, Hobart. We have been guests at both of these clubs in our travels.

The convention had been organised by clubs Brighton No1, Lockleys No 2 and Burnside No 3 overseen by Adelaide Past President Brian Lilley as Chairman. Burnside organised that night’s dinner and we were welcomed by Lee Miller from that club and Adelaide President Paul Kershaw. The Convention was officially opened by Hon. Leon Bignell, MP who gave us a warm welcome in an entertaining address.

The food and wines were all very enjoyable. I chose the duck as my main course and found it an excellent accompaniment with the Riposte Pinot Noir and also matched well with the Rosemount GSM. I do hope that the Friday night sit down dinner becomes a permanent feature of future conventions. In the past clubs have tried stand up finger food. I am but a man and cannot hold a plate and a glass of wine and find means of actually eating the food and drinking the wine without a place to put either one down plus the strain of standing for hours. It had been Burnside club’s original intention to have a finger food function and so congratulations to them for listening to delegates at the last convention at Yarrawonga/Mulwala and treating us to such fine food and wine. As usual it was after midnight by the time we returned to our hotel.

 

 

 

Welcome Dinner Group: Standing Bob and Barbara Nixon (Sheoak Hill), Jill and Jim Freebairn, (Nital), Hein Vandenberg (John Bowen). Seated Val and Tony Hallifax, Kathlyn Porter, Alan Porter (Sheoak Hill) Kim Vandenberg (John Bowen)

 

Saturday Morning Business Session

There was a good attendance at the Business session at the InterContinental Grevillia room starting at 9 o’clock. Among the various issues raised the President, Paul Kershaw covered the aging aspect of the members of our individual clubs. This is a big issue for our club, Nital as we were formed as a businessmen’s luncheon club and draw our membership from a wide range of addresses in the city and suburbs. Business lunches are a rarity these days but night meetings are impractical for us owing to travel distances. Paul said that many clubs are gaining membership from the grown up children of members and of course we have changed from a men’s club to a mixed club in recent years. Paul also covered the topic of improvements to the Club’s website before handing over to General Secretary Craig Thornquest. Craig covered various administrative matters including the perennial problems of untraceable remittances from clubs and update details for the annual handbook. I was reminded of the words of Albert Einstein, “Only two things are infinite, the Universe and Man’s stupidity, and I’m not really sure about the Universe.”

 

Convention Presentations

Howard Bennett, Shanghailanders gave us an entertaining and at times very witty, (the Chinese have a wine labelled Dynasty pronounced “Die Nasty”) presentation on the planned convention in Shanghai, 16-18 October 2015. A video showing the sights supported the presentation and news will be out shortly of a packaged tour to China taking in some of the country’s many attractions as well as the convention.

 

As Paul had said in his opening address, in part quoting W.C.Fields “Never work with children, animals or technology”. John Bowen Club’s video got stuck in the computer and could not be recovered but Brian Burgess and Hein Vandenberg adlibbed their way manfully describing the delights of Hobart in late autumn. A programme has already been planned for 20-22^nd May 2016, the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Club and I was pleased to see Friday sit down dinner as part of their plans. Registration forms were available with the advice to book early. I am sure that there will soon be something on the Adelaide website for those who did not get a copy of their ‘flyer’. The video was subsequently retrieved and shown at that night’s dinner.

 

The Duck

Most members of B&B will know the history of The Duck (if not see Adelaide website). It had been a feature of conventions since Alice Springs in 2000 but disappeared at the end of the Darwin Convention in 2012. Those of us who had developed some affection for it were dismayed to think that it was probably inadvertently left behind by Yarrawonga/Mulwala’s Peter Bennet, in whose care it was entrusted. I had visions of it at the bottom of the Arafura Sea or buried in some garbage dump. Despite pleas from then President Brian Lilley, for anybody knowing its whereabouts to come forward, especially as it was needed at Yarrawonga/Mulwala in March 2013 for a presentation to Bob Brinkworth (who survived a massive heart attack early on Friday night in Darwin and missed the rest of the convention), there was no response. We feared that it was lost forever. At the meeting Peter Johnston, another former President advised that the Duck had been delivered to his house I think it was the day before the convention, in a padlocked cage with an accompanying USB stick and he put on the slideshow covering its activities. While the Duck has a past history of being “borrowed” personally I have no truck with thieves. I know not who the thieves were but they should know that never, never is such behaviour acceptable. As The Duck’s cousin, the little black duck employed by Loony Tunes would put it, “Despicable!”

 

Master Classes

Following the Business Session those who had pre booked for Master Classes gathered for either the Pinot Noir or Riesling Master Classes. Naturally, we had chosen the Riesling and under the guidance of Mitchell Winery’s David Mitchell we spent nearly an hour and a half looking, tasting and discussing the eight wines presented. They were 2005 and 2013 Mitchell Watervale Riesling, Henschke Julius Riesling, Crawford River Riesling and Franklin Estate Riesling. We enjoyed them all and it confirmed my opinion that a Riesling responds well to time in the bottle. There was a lot of discussion and questions and we all had a most enjoyable and educational time. From reports of the Pinot Noir Master Class I think they too felt the tasting was a great success.

Afterwards we were invited to join others for lunch but Jill was in search for a hairdresser in preparation for that evening and so we had a quick lunch before she set off on her quest.

 

The Riesling Master class.

 

Saturday Night Dinner

Saturday night is the big night of a convention and it does look impressive to see the ladies in their fine gowns and the men in their dinner suits. At seven o’clock we gathered outside the Ballroom at the InterContinental Hotel and enjoyed canapés and Wicks Estate Sparkling Wine 2011. It was then in to the Ballroom where we sat with a diverse group of delegates. This is the time to get to know a bit about other clubs and enjoy some conversation. Alas! We had hardly sat down when the band decided to make itself heard, the soloist’s high pitched voice adding to the din. One valiant delegate, President of his Club, tried in vain to get the volume turned down. He may as well have been King Canute trying to hold back the tide as the noise flooded the room drowning out all attempts to communicate. I could not but help feel sorry for the organisers who seemed as helpless as the rest of us. It must have been disappointing for them but past experience has shown that whenever you have a singer and a band the same thing happens. It is far better, if you must have music to have a string trio or quartet. People can still dance to that sort of music and it can be pitched at a reasonable volume.

When at last the band took a break we were welcomed by Paul Kershaw and the Master of Ceremonies, Brighton Club’s Martin Robinson. He had traced the menu of the Inaugural dinner at the Seacliff Hotel put on by Brighton Club in 1955.  A reading of the wines consumed at that time, including 1941 and 1953 Tintara Old Castle Riesling and 1939 and 1953 Chateau Reynella Burgundy (probably what we now call Grenache) puts to bed the myth that Australians did not appreciate table wines until the1960’s. (No iniquitous taxes on wine then and I can remember when there was little excise on spirits and hardly any on brandy).

A feature of the night was a visual presentation before each course introduced by Dr. John Tomich, either from a vineyard or in a dining room covering the wines, illustrated and with comments from the chef.

The guest speaker for the night was D’Arry Osborn of D’Arenberg Wines fame. What an inspiration he is to us all. Aged, I believe 87 he kept us entertained in a wide ranging speech covering aspects of wine, the family name, various overseas people claiming to be relatives and legal threats from big European companies. In a rare quiet moment afterwards I was able to talk to him about the D’Arenberg Three Soils Grenache trio I put on at our club when Cellarmaster and Winemaster over several years. There was a marked difference in each wine. We also talked about the sparkling wine his son, Chester released in his honour labelled ‘Dadd’. A well known Champagne house took exception and threatened to sue. After some discussion they allowed existing labelled stock to be sold. When I asked what they might label the remainder he replied with a twinkle in his eye, “I suggested Chester’s Folly”. Our Club’s founding member, the late Mervyn Ziebell would have been proud of me as I also got D’Arry’s autograph. Mervyn was a great one for autographs and we still collect them at our meetings when we remember to do so.

Once again the food and the wines had been excellent and we retired looking forward to the following day’s luncheon.

 

 Guest Speaker D’Arry Osborn

 

Farewell lunch/Seafood Extravaganza

After a relaxing morning we made our way the short distance over the new pedestrian bridge built as part of the recent Adelaide Oval redevelopment to Pinky Flat, on the banks of the River Torrens. A marquee had been erected but the weather was fine, though cool in the shade, and it was not needed. Strictly observing the terms of its liquor licence it was precisely 12 noon when the first wine was poured, the Wicks Estate Chardonnay/Pinot Noir Sparkling NV being the first wine of popular choice. The lunch had been organised by Lockleys Club and they did an outstanding job supported by labour from Brighton and Burnside. Lee Miller was in her element pouring the wines and, no doubt with the pressure off, have I ever seen her look so happy! We spent four hours eating and drinking our way through the various courses and wines. It was an outstanding finish to the convention and we can only marvel at the organisation involved in hosting such an event. To top things off at the closing speeches the gremlins in technology had got to the sound system, but the delegates were respectfully quiet enabling Paul Kershaw’s voice to carry unassisted. I think it was Lockleys Club member Tony McDonald who organised the bountiful seafood and he and all those involved in another memorable convention were duly acknowledged.

 

Max Bourne and Harold Schiller (Toowoomba Wheatsheaf) with General Secretary, Craig Thornquest (centre)

 

East meets East. Howard Bennett (Shanghailanders) and Frederic Lucron (Tokyo).

 

 Keith Delahoy (Holdfast) and Bevin, pronounced Bivin De Berry (Wellington NZ) still smiling but their wine glasses need a top up.

 

Convention President Paul Kershaw says thanks and farewell until Shanghai October 2015 (below right)

 

Lee Miller (Burnside)

 

I think this is the first convention to which I have been where port was not served. It does not matter as I have plenty at home. I think that the clubs successfully achieved their wine objective under the guidance of Tim Knapstein:

1. Firstly, the wines chosen should represent the best that South Australia could produce
2. Secondly, that these wines should be modern, up to date styles which reflect the current trends in winemaking

 

Conclusion

After Sunday’s lunch many continued on at various venues and we met some of the Townsville contingent, with whom we enjoyed their August meeting, over dinner at Parliamento restaurant in North Terrace. We had a quiet recovery day on Monday with only lunch at Jamie Oliver’s new Italian restaurant in the former Bank of New South Wales building on the corner of North Terrace and King William Street and a delicious evening dinner in a private home with two former Adelaide Club Presidents and their wives.

For those fellow bookkeepers, the cost of the convention was $1,590 per couple early bird or $1,790 later and our accommodation was $160 per night.

Pre Convention Kangaroo Island three days $825 per head twin share. Post Convention tour Barossa and Clare Valleys 3 days $615 per head twin share.

Just for something to do on the way home we spent three nights at Hall’s Gap including a dinner meeting of the Stawell Beefsteak and Burgundy Club. But that is another story.

Here’s hoping we are all fit and well and can get some more representatives from our Club at next October’s trip to China.

Jim Freebairn