With harvest well and truly behind us, it’s the time of year where winemakers jump (or are thrown) into a range of marketing activities both great and small. International and domestic trade visits, media releases, and distributor tasting events are but a handful of the activities we can expect to be part of once the Redback boots are swapped out for RM Williams.

Fortunately, I’ve never really been one that’s needed ‘throwing’ into these events – I enjoy each for any number of reasons – like experiencing new places and meeting interesting people – but fundamentally the thing I relish most is the opportunity to share our craft with others, and even better if they have a keen interest in what we do.

This is why the absolute highlight of my calendar is the opportunity to host our very popular wine club lunches. Having recently staged our annual events at Pony Dining at The Rocks in Sydney, and Chairman & Yip in Canberra, I’ve been reflecting on exactly what it is that makes these occasions so special, and why they have proved to be so enduringly popular over the fifteen plus years of Gundog Estate.  

In this edition of The Love of Wine I invite you to join me at the table, forget the outside world for a few hours and share conversation and laughter with like-minded friends at a Gundog Estate Member’s Lunch.

 Enjoy!

‘Surely you’ll only need a minute or so to figure out the identity of this wine, right?’ I bait the crowd with a cheeky grin.

As couples and groups consult under hushed chatter, I see wine being swirled and noses diving in and out of glasses like Ibis’s fishing for their prey. Though in this instance it’s not prey they’re after, it’s clues.

‘OK, times up!’ I declare.

Nervous laughter is usually accompanied by at least one hopeful request for more time. I playfully dismiss such suggestions, and the game is underway.

Before we sat at the table, I had the waitstaff come and pre-pour the first bracket of wine – including the contents of this glass – the mystery wine. I’d wrapped the bottles in foil, just in case any keen-eyed attendees gained clues from the packaging as it was being poured.

‘Right – now on your feet please everyone. For those of you who haven’t played a wine options game before, never fear, it’s blissfully simple! I’ll offer you a multiple-choice question relating to the identity of the wine and you’ll respond by raising either your left or right hand. Incorrect answers sit down, and the last person standing is the winner!’

I catch excited glances and nervous smiles on the faces of the forty or so guests now standing to attention around the long table. It must be quite a spectacle to the passerby.

My first question is usually one of the hardest – sometimes I think cruelly so – but it really is fundamental to all that follow. ‘OK, is this wine a (left hand) single variety, or (right hand) a blend?’

Incredulous laughter and murmurs of conversation come in reply. Some (likely over-confident) hands shoot up quickly, while others raise at a more tentative pace – and there’s always at least one last minute change of mind before the first answer is revealed.

‘Those with right hands raised,’ and then a pause for dramatic effect, ‘please sit down! Left hands remain standing.’ Laughter from those descending back to their chairs, and sideways glances from the survivors as they gauge the remaining competition.

And so, we continue – from grape variety to the country of origin, to the region, to the age of the wine, and then finally – if there’s still more than one person standing – to the producer that made it.  

The proposition and outcome of each question is reliably met with smiles and laughter. Who would have thought that something so tortuously hard could be so much fun?

Often the decision making for the last two or three questions includes at least some ‘playing the odds’ – if everyone else has their left hand up, then surely there’s some logic in being the only one with their right hand raised, right? Whether through luck, skill or statistical analysis, we arrive at a winner one way or another. Their good fortune is met by enthusiastic applause and a bottle prize from me.

And this is how we settle into lunch.

Every restaurant we visit brings something unique to our events – be it the setting or the menu. At Pony Dining – where I’ve hosted Gundog Events for over fifteen years now – it’s definitely both.

We sit at a long table perched on a narrow terrace just a metre or so from the convict era cobblestone path running the interior of Kendall Lane. With open sides, the space feels simultaneously cosy and yet spacious. It’s a classic autumn day – a coolish morning giving way to a crystal-clear blue sky and the kiss of warm afternoon sun.

The theme at Pony is cooking over fire, and dishes are designed to share. I do my best to match two or three wines to each of the four courses – or five if you count the cheese! The first course sees platters of Italian flatbread with (my favourite) woodfire grilled eggplant dip, alongside briny freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters, and a burrata, with its creamy insides oozing over a red pepper relish. The crisp Canberra District Riesling and vibrant Wild Semillon sing with the array of flavours and textures on offer.

Next, its blue swimmer crab served with salt baked celeriac, brown butter, and roasted hazelnuts. This is presented alongside a platter of very moreish duck leg toasts, served with house BBQ sauce, chilli and crispy shallots. As the flavours of the dishes build in intensity, so do our wines – now we’re sipping the perfectly savoury Indomitus Rosa – a Sangiovese rosé – alongside our new release of Indomitus Rutilus, an exciting blend of Hilltops Shiraz, Tempranillo and Grenache.

Between each course, as plates are cleared and the next bracket of wines poured, I’m on my feet addressing the table – inviting feedback on the wines we just tasted and then introducing the next. I love the questions that flow with increasing fluidity as the lunch progresses – from ideal serving temperature or the type of barrels used for maturation, to the creative inspiration behind a wine – I dive into the answers with enthusiasm and hopefully some level of cohesion; my mind has to race to compress ideas I could spend hours discussing into just few meaningful sentences.

The sound of conversation and laughter proceeds unbroken until the mains are presented. Then it’s silence, or excited gasps of ‘Oh my – look at that!’ And here, the generosity of the owner and chef, Neil Nolan, is on full show. Oversized platters of whole deboned Murray cod, thick-cut dry aged T-bone steaks, and grilled racks of lamb served over rizoni, mint and peas – the waitstaff visibly glad to relieve their tired arms of the bounty that now sits before us!

And we dive in, taking pieces of this and that, careful not to miss the sides of charred baby cos, broccolini and Hasselback potatoes. The steak, as usual, is an absolute delight – caramelised to perfection on the outside while mouth-wateringly pink and tender on the inside. Chefs have thoughtfully carved manageable pieces from a cut that must have weighed well over a kilogram to start with. The remaining T bones are either wrapped for dog owning guests to take home or occasionally gnawed at by the more brave among us. The mini-vertical of Rare Game Shiraz, featuring wines both young and old, shines as tannins are shaped to velvet by the abundance of protein now coating the insides of our smiling mouths.

By the time dessert arrives and a final taste of our luscious Rutherglen Muscat is offered, most of us sit in a state of sheer contentment. The volume of conversation and laugher peaked with mains and now softens as the afternoon draws to a close.

Once I’ve said my final few words of thanks to everyone who came, and to Neil and the incredible kitchen and waitstaff, I too can now finally sit back and relax – savouring the warm embers of the afternoon.

When I reflect on these events in the days that follow, I am invariably smiling. Sure, it’s a relief to host another successful lunch, and always a wonderful treat to enjoy such fabulous food and equally fabulous wine (hopefully). But there is more.

Without a doubt, the feeling I draw most from our events, is that of connection. I am equally excited to see an old face as I am a new one. Many of the more familiar faces belong to people that I now consider my friends. These are friendships forged over tables of food, bottles of wine and hours of thoughtful conversation. And for newcomers, it’s the chance to invite them into this community we’ve built over fifteen years.

To be sure, lunchtime conversation has turned in a multitude of weird and wonderful ways during the very many events I’ve hosted. Over of the course of these conversations, there’s little doubt we’ve arrived at solutions to the world’s greatest problems, along with many more domestic ones. In the offering of each other’s stories around the table, we’ve laughed, challenged, jested, and even shed the occasional tear. We’ve listened and we’ve learned. And not once, not on a single occasion have I seen anything but care and respect shown to those we share the table and our ourselves with. I feel such settings are to be treasured during these increasingly fractured times.

And connection really is at the heart of it. This is the very thing wine is about and has been so successfully in facilitating for the last 13,000 or so years. It lowers our inhibitions, lifts our vulnerability, and catalyses social bonding. Even the size of the bottle is an invitation to share. Wine is a bridge for community and friendship. There is no doubt that I am a richer person for the tapestry of connections, moments and friendships that it has helped me thread.

So I mean it when I say, ‘hopefully I’ll see you for a glass of wine soon.’

Kind Regards,

Matt Burton

P.S. If this story lands with you or sparks any memories of your own unexpected wine experiences, please feel free to send me an email – I’d love to hear from you!

Remaining member’s lunch events for 2026

Invites will be sent closer to the event dates, but early bookings can be made now

Supernormal – Brisbane, Saturday July 25 | sold out – join the waiting list here
Circa 1876 – Pokolbin, Saturday August 22 | purchase tickets here
Maydanoz – Sydney, Saturday October 31 | purchase tickets here