Sydney, Singapore, Frankfurt
Tasted Monday, June 22, 2015 - Friday, June 26, 2015 by graemeg with 608 views
Five wines on offer here at lunchtime: I skipped the kiwi savvy blanc.
Sydney to Singapore, 8 hours in business class.
Stopover on the way to Frankfurt. A fizz, two whites and two reds here. The Mr Riggs was the same wine as on the plane (see next leg of flight!); just 4 of these five wines were being poured on the way back five days later.
Singapore to Frankfurt: the 12 hour leg. Tried the two wines I missed ex-Sydney.
The Singapore lounge in Frankfurt is in fact the Lufthansa Business lounge. Wonderful, I thought when I heard this: I wonder if I will beat the mixed world dozen I tasted in BA’s Heathrow lounge last November? And have some weird and wonderful German wines in the process? Nope, is the general answer, with one mild exception. And I’ve gotta say; for the national carrier in the country’s main airport, the lounge is just a throwaway afterthought. Two hot dishes, a few pretzels; not even a cheese plate. Tragic.
The Rhone red was a ‘special limited offer’ wine on the Frankfurt-Singapore leg. The Singapore Airlines lounge in Terminal 3 is unevenly parsimonious with wines on the way back to Sydney; apart from the generous Bollinger Special, there’s just the one Victorian chardonnay, and the same Bordeaux/McLaren Vale double doing duty as two days ago. Four wines! Miserable offerings. One untried offering on the A380 on the way back to Sydney to finish.
NV Cave de Lugny Crémant de Bourgogne Brut
France, Burgundy, Crémant de Bourgogne
(6/22/2015)
Fresh apples with a touch of custard. Rather violently fizzy, very much on the front palate with its vanilla custard/apple flavours. Little true yeast character; it’s just a fresh and simple, nicely dry, light-bodied fizz.
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2013 Oakridge Chardonnay The Parish of Gruyere
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
(6/22/2015)
{screwcap, 13%} Mild grapefruit aromas pumped up with vanilla oak. The palate is soft, tannin-free, with minimal structure and low-key grapefruit and nougat flavours. All the weight seems to derive from the oak, but as it’s not overdone, it balances the other structural aspects of this light/medium-bodied, rather short-finishing, but dry, basic commercial chardonnay. Drink up.
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2012 Wirra Wirra Shiraz Sexton's Acre
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(6/22/2015)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Plum & liquorice nose. The palate is warm, loose-knit, with plummy fruits, blackberries and aniseed flavours. There’s little acid, and minimal oak. It finishes on the short side, with a smoky weediness to the flavours. It has some mid-palate presence, but the front and back aren’t really in play. Despite the medium-weight, it seems a bit alcoholic for the rest of the wine to support. Base level wine; cellar as such.
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2012 Brand's Laira Cabernet Sauvignon Blockers
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(6/22/2015)
{screwcap, 14.6%} Basic new world cabernet from the lesser offerings of the Coonawarra vineyards; dark currant & vanilla nose, followed by a palate of gritty tannins and spicy flavours, along with a leafy cabernet note. Despite never rising above medium-bodied in weight, does rather display the fairly high alcohol. Low gritty tannins, and soft acid provide the only real structure; any oak is a seasoning only. Basic commercial effort; not to cellar.
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