Singapore Airlines - Business & Lounges

Sydney, Singapore, Frankfurt
Tasted Monday, June 22, 2015 - Friday, June 26, 2015 by graemeg with 593 views

Flight 1 - Singapore Airlines Sydney Business Class lounge (4 Notes)

Five wines on offer here at lunchtime: I skipped the kiwi savvy blanc.

  • 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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Flight 2 - On SQ222 (5 Notes)

Sydney to Singapore, 8 hours in business class.

  • NV Taittinger Prelude

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    (6/22/2015)

    ‘50/50 blend of PN & Chardy from only GC vineyards, apparently. A hefty mouthful, the chardonnay dominating. White fruits covered in yeasty , leesy flavours; it’s a bit anonymous for flavour, with medium fine bubbles, medium weight, and a generous mouthfeel Medium length finish, dry, still packs a decent punch of flavour in the air(!); but kinda dry and moreish; an aperitif style; it really gets the tastebuds going. Decent enough, I wouldn’t age it (and on Singapore Airlines, I’d assume this is pretty fresh stock).

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  • 2013 Balthasar Ress Riesling

    Germany, Rheingau

    (6/22/2015)

    {screwcap} Simple, honest riesling of talc & lime. Relies on a touch of sugar for weight & length. Light-bodied, to the point where it just flits over the palate before a rather short finish. So-so. Maybe it’s more impressive on the ground.

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  • 2013 Bunnamagoo Estate Chardonnay Bunnamagoo Estate

    Australia, New South Wales, Central Ranges, Mudgee

    (6/22/2015)

    {screwcap} Old style nose; butter, figs and oak, with some malo character evident. The plate is less oaky, but even then the fairly anonymous white fruit flavours are subsumed by those mild vanilla flavours. It’s light/medium-bodied, with fairly low acidity, and has a light mineral/oak texture which gives it some passing interest, no more.

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  • 2011 Château Tour Haut-Caussan

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc

    (6/22/2015)

    Big youthful, even sweet nose of plums, currants, strawberries. Reinforced with spicy oak. The palate has an odd menthol-like character to it too; everything promises much fruit on the palate, but it sits around the edge of the tongue, with very soft tannins, a rather dilute quality, and a short finish. Seems rather held up by the oak somehow. Serviceable but dull. Better than I expected given the vintage.

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  • NV Dow Porto 10 Year Old Tawny

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    (6/22/2015)

    Raisins & prunes. Rich but light nose, with a touch of caramel. Medium-bodied palate, with simple brandied cherry flavours; not much real wood/rancio character on offer. Refreshing bright acid, rather front-palate in its balance, medium-dry, with a short finish. Not terribly exciting but not poor either; just tastes a bit stretched somehow.

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Flight 3 - Singapore Airlines Changi Business lounge (3 Notes)

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.

  • NV Bollinger Champagne Special Cuvée Brut

    France, Champagne

    (6/22/2015)

    All the classic big yeasty Bollinger flavours; cream cheese, nuts, biscuits. Medium/full-bodied, with plenty of mid-palate heft, and a medium/long vigorous finish. Fine, persistent bubbles. Very classy champagne.

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  • 2011 Yering Station Chardonnay

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    (6/22/2015)

    {screwcap, 12%} A bit weedy and thin. There’s some oak, along with notions of tropical fruit, but the palate has a bilgey, dilute quality to it, despite some white fruit/chardonnay character. Light/medium-bodied at best, it always has a dirty earth aspect to the flavours; a victim of the soggiest vintage in years. Short finish; drink up, this is going nowhere.

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  • 2010 Château Loudenne

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc

    (6/22/2015)

    {cork, 14%} Plummy, blackcurrant nose; very new world. The palate has a dirty tobacco note though; earthy; not really old school, just fungal and not at all what the nose promised. Tannins are fine and dusty; quite drying too; it’s at least medium-bodied, and you sense every percent of the alcohol, which gives it a slithery kind of texture. The finish is pretty low key though, despite that tannic tobacco note charging through; it’s only medium length. I guess this will hold a while, but I’d be surprised if it ever rose much above ‘serviceable’.

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Flight 4 - On SQ 026 (2 Notes)

Singapore to Frankfurt: the 12 hour leg. Tried the two wines I missed ex-Sydney.

  • 2012 Cambria Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard

    USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

    (6/22/2015)

    Somewhat developing, sweetly liqueured nose; pineapple, tropical fruits. The medium-bodied palate is bolstered by sweet oak, malo influences and sweet tropical fruits. It’s not fair to call it off-dry, but it has a real sweetness which feels like more than just the oak. Low acid, and it has the short finish you’d expect. Fairly dull stuff.

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  • 2012 Mr. Riggs Shiraz The Gaffer

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    (6/22/2015)

    {screwcap, 14.6%} Blackberries & iodine. Despite the impressive nose, te palate is only really light/medium-bodied, surprisingly in light of the alcohol. Has a bit of punch on the palate to begin, but that fades fairly quickly. Bif rich red fruit flavours, but a bit hollow at the core. The black fruit lacks focus & concentration, and the palate ends up tasting rather dilute in the end. A bit disappointing..

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Flight 5 - Frankfurt Lufthansa Business lounge (6 Notes)

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.

  • NV J. Oppmann Cabernet Sauvignon Trocken

    Germany, Rheinhessen

    (6/26/2015)

    {11.5%} Vague watermelon aromas. Lots of powerful but not coarse bubbles on the dry and dusty palate. Perhaps a vague touch of strawberry-like flavour appears. Light-bodied, with a crisp, dry, short, finish of no interest whatsoever.

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  • NV J. Oppmann Trocken

    Germany, Franken

    (6/26/2015)

    {11.5%} Lychees and green apples comprise the rather mild nose. It has a savoury, dry, light-bodied palate, but is nearly devoid of flavour. Has more presence on the tongue structurally than actual taste. Small furious bubbles do their best to create interest within a short-bodied finish. But really, it’s very dull overall.

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  • 2013 Riff Pinot Grigio

    Italy, Delle Venezie

    (6/26/2015)

    {screwcap, 12%} Steel and pear. Apricot vaguely. Somewhat reserved. Palate is watery but dry, oak-free, light-bodied with a grape-skin texture, quite hefty and warm for 12%, but the same simple flavours as the nose leave nothing to the imagination on the short finish. Dull.

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  • 2014 McGregor Winery Chardonnay

    South Africa, Breede River Valley, Robertson, McGregor

    (6/26/2015)

    {14%} Youthful, sweet butter and peach aromas. Some vanilla too, but not overly oaky. The palate is rather woodier than I expected, but still not more than light/medium-bodied (served too cold, as seems to be the case with all airport lounge whites).

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  • 2013 Lergenmüller Dornfelder Traditions Herrenhaus

    Germany, Pfalz

    (6/26/2015)

    {screwcap, 13%} Lively intense nose of liquirice and bleckberry. Zippy and fresh. The light/medium-bodied palate has an earthy/bacterial, but still oddly confected quality to te flavours, with steely acidity to back it up. The dusty tannins are very mild indeed; no oak is evident; it’s light-on for structure but still piercing in a pointed, not-unripe way. Dry, perhaps even a touch feral, but interesting enough, even if it finishes rather short.

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  • 2013 Cantine Colomba Bianca Terre Siciliane Kore

    Italy, Sicily, Terre Siciliane

    (6/26/2015)

    {screwcap, 13%} Warmly ripe nose of leaves, compost, raspberries. Soft dusty tannins and medium acid frame a softly earthy old-world style of wine, relying more on structure for impact than the gentle raspberry fruits. Has a rather commercial feel, with its slippery texture and absence of oak; rather bland and should only be drunk in a crisis.

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Flight 6 - SQ325 to Singapore & Singapore Lounge then Sydney (3 Notes)

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.

  • 2011 Ferraton Père & Fils Crozes-Hermitage La Matinière

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage

    (6/26/2015)

    {cork, 13%} Powerful spicy, peppery nose. Some blackberry fruit too, but it’s the intensity of the pepper which dominates. On the palate, tobacco and spice flavours fight it out with the pepper. It’s a bit dilute as far as red shiraz flavours go; there are medium gritty tannins, medium acid, and some earth flavours. It’s also a touch coarse overall, with blocky tannins, but it does manage some mid-palate presence which rather come in waves along the palate; the finish is dry, savoury and medium length. OK, no more.

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  • 2012 Shadowfax Chardonnay

    Australia, Victoria

    (6/26/2015)

    {screwcap, 13%} From Geelong and Heathcote. All nuts and figs on the medium-intensity nose. Grapefruit, nut and cedary oak flavours comprise the medium-bodied palate. It’s pretty austere on the whole, not with much charm at all, but has some power instead, leading to good mid-palate weight and a dry, medium-length finish. Hard to get the serving temperature right given the oak and reserved nature of the wine; warm it’s flabby, and too cold and it disappears entirely. Ready to drink I reckon.

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  • 2012 Dandelion Vineyards Shiraz Lioness of McLaren Vale

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    (6/26/2015)

    {screwcap, 14%} Classic, big, chocolate/red berry vale shiraz. Despite the massive nose, the palate isn’t really more than medium weight. It does start with a load of ripe blackberry flavours and spiciness, with soft oak. It does taste a bit entry-level, having no real depth or length to the finish, but it does its best to make an initial impact. A more impressive nose than its Riggs Gaffer co-servee, but perhaps a lesser palate. Soft acid, gentle gritty tannins; drink up.

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