THE BEEFSTEAK AND BURGUNDY CLUB OF SHEOAK HILL
40th Anniversary Dinner, 23rd May 2015
Seasons Restaurant Riddells Creek Vic
As members will be aware, Jill and I are advocates of visiting other clubs and also attending B&B Conventions. Tony Hallifax is the Secretary/Treasurer of Sheoak Hill B&B. We have enjoyed the company of Tony and Val at Conventions for many years and we were pleased to accept their invitation to stay with them and to attend the Club’s 40th Anniversary dinner celebrations. Located at Sunbury, they are fortunate to be in a wine growing area and just a few minutes’ drive from Tullamarine airport.
Our hired small bus picked us up at 6.30 for the short drive to Riddells Creek. The restaurant was soon abuzz with a total of fifty one attendees all enjoying an extraordinarily high quality sparkling wine. We caught up with Adelaide president Paul Kershaw, Secretary Craig Thornquest and their wives Holly and Marita and Hanging Rock Winemaker John Ellis, whom I had met some years ago.
Sheoak Hill club President, Alan Porter invited us to take our seats and gave a brief outline of the evening’s planned activities. In addition to the pre dinner canapés we were now about to enjoy a four course dinner including predominantly locally grown wines.
John Ellis spoke about the Hanging Rock Cuvee Sec Macedon late disgorged (6th May 2015) Sparkling Wine, a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, approximately 50% from the 1995 vintage, the remainder from vintages going back to 1987. In a nice touch a specially prepared back label acknowledged the serving of the wine at this landmark dinner.
Llew Knight spoke about the Riesling accompanying our first entree. The winery, Granite Hills was founded by his late father, Gordon, who died recently. Surprisingly, Gordon was teetotal and decided to grow grapes owing to the small size of his landholding. The winery certainly knows how to make a Riesling. This wine had that steely acidity which is so enjoyable as a young wine.
For our second entree we had soup including duck as an ingredient. This is when Pinot Noir comes in to its own and Gisborne Peak’s Bob Nixon spoke lovingly of his creation, made in 2011, one of the most challenging vintages due to unseasonal rains and subsequent fungal diseases. This is an excellent example of the variety made more exciting as Jill and I have some of this wine in our own cellar!
During the breaks between courses there were also opportunities for Paul Kershaw and Craig Thornquest to say a few words. Sheoak Hill has a common background with the founding club, Adelaide as they both started with just eight members. We were very surprised to hear that Sheoak Hill still has only eight members, including four founding members. It is a great credit to them that they can be so active and that local wineries were very generous in the provision of wines for the night. Perhaps one of their strengths is that they have not played around with the proven structure of their club and have a President, Secretary/Treasurer, Foodmaster, Winemaster and Cellarmaster.
Tony Richardson from Witchmont Estate introduced his 2012 Estate Shiraz. Unfortunately Bourke and Wills Winery’s Andrew and Heather Pattison were unable to be present but they sent a representative, Annie ten Brink a native of Belgium. She was a lively speaker and a big hit with her audience. A gentleman does not discuss a woman’s age but I can say she is probably about 25 years older than I am. The eye fillet was perfectly cooked and the wines well matched.
Cellarmaster Jenny Wilcox introduced our final wine, a Lilly Pilly Single vineyard Noble Blend, a wine I have not consumed for many years. It was a good example of Riverina sweet wine. By now we were pretty much replete but you can not have a birthday without a cake and the eight members gathered for its cutting. I can not remember whether we sang “Happy Birthday” but if we didn’t we should have. Before leaving Bob Nixon presented each of us with a commemorative glass (which we christened the following night).
Thus the evening all too soon came to an end. Like so many Beefsteak and Burgundy Club gatherings it will long live in our memories.
Jim Freebairn