The Commanderie fought its way through the shoppers at the Christmas markets to attend the ever popular Midland Hotel. There was a healthy turnout and the champagne flowed freely as we gathered.
We then sat down to witness the intronisation of two new Commandeurs to the Manchester chapter.
Karen Hammond and Adrian Bennett were deemed to be very fitting additions to our numbers and they were duly anointed.
After Grace we then tucked into a confit pork shoulder and wild mushroom terrine, which was accompanied by confit of bramley apple and celeriac remoulade, with toasted sourdough. This went well with the tasty and fresh Sauvignon dominated Château Bel Air Perponcher Réserve, 2015.
Next we had a generous and well-cooked course of roast rump of lamb with sticky braised puy lentils, spinach, baby carrots and lamb jus. This was accompanied by the Château Fontenil, Fronsac of 2000. This was a very tasty and fruity wine that still had a lot of life and went very well with the lamb.
The Fronsac contrasted with the more tanic 2006, 3ème Cru Classé Haut-Médoc from Château La Lagune, but which was complemented by the ever-reliable Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese.
The meal was rounded off with a flavourful strawberry with the exciting flavors of basil and pink pepper corn and accompanied with pavlova and strawberry jelly. This was matched well to the delicious Château Rabaud-Promis, 2007, 1er Cru Classé from Sauternes.
After toasting the Queen and the Commanderie we thanked our host in our normal style and headed back out into the winter night, having had a very pleasant evening.