Notes in brief…(June 2010)

2002 Petaluma Coonawarra, at an after-hours happy hour with the House Officers. Decanted for 30 minutes. Deep dark red. Attractive bouquet of delicious ripe dark fruits and blueberries. Medium-full, smooth, revealing reasonable depth with excellent grip and structure, the merlot component fairly prominent, yielding supple tannins. Excellent.

Singapore Airlines has regressed to a Vin de Pays with the 2007 Fontant de France cabernet, on board the A380 Economy Class. A dull shade of ruby. Typically simple and fruit-forward. Most unflattering. I much preferred the Paul Mas syrah they used to serve. Surely SIA could have afforded its loyal flyers a decent Bordeaux superieur, at the very least?

2007 KSWC riesling QBA, on board Singapore Airlines A380 Economy Class. Pale lemon yellow. More of green apples, peaches, pears and fizzy citrus. Restrained sweetness. Promising entry, somewhat hollow towards the finish but gaining in fullness with further airing. Persistent minty finish. Enjoyable, but doesn’t grow on you.

2007 Kaesler Stonehorse shiraz, at the Krisflyer Gold Lounge, Changi Airport Terminal 3. From the bottom third of a bottle that’s obviously been opened for some time. Deep dark red, with what seemed like some degree of heat-stressed fruit with prune-like flavours, slightly burnt, on the nose. But there is much glorious fruit to admire upfront – medium-full, rich, smooth without any alcoholic trace. Very well-crafted. This will put many so-called housepour reds in restaurants to shame.

2007 Yalumba Unwooded chardonnay, at the Krisflyer Gold Lounge, Changi Airport Terminal 3. Clear straw color. Notes of vanilla, slightly creamy and buttery with pleasant minerality and smooth acidity, leading to quite a decent body and a short finish. Quite enjoyable.

2004 Ch Sociando Mallet, at Imperial Treasure T3. Very dark purlish-red. Quite an inviting nose of violets and blackberries, suggesting plenty of fruit. However, the gentle entry belies a sharp tannic attack on the mid-palate, the wine medium-full, fruit-forward but disjointed, smoky and woody, finishing with dry austere tannins. At least there’s none of the herbaceousness that frequently ruins these Haut-Medoc from classic vintages. I suppose it needs plenty of sleep. Do not disturb.