Flew back from Sicily. Three hours to kill at Gatwick before I head to Edinburgh this evening for a very exciting masterclass of New Zealand wines tomorrow, so I headed to the British Airways lounge and tried all the wines.
Champagne Castelnau NV France
Nice to find Champagne on free-pour in a lounge. Normally you have to ask someone for it, because people love guzzling Champagne in the lounge. This one is full flavoured with toasty apple and pear fruit, with peach and nut richness. Some sweetness adds volume. A crowd pleaser. 88/100
Vitte Colte Roero Arneis Villata 2017 Piedmont, Italy
An atypical Arneis? Soft and fruity with nice pear and yellow cherry notes. Some waxy savouriness. Quite broad-shouldered. 86/100
Paul Cluver Riesling 2017 Elgin, South Africa
Rich, vivid and off dry with sweet citrus, some green apple, and a bit of spicy, pithy bite. Very attractive. 90/100
Lovivalo Verdejo de Rueda 2017 Spain
This wasn’t very good. Fresh and very appley. Juicy with a fruity character but a bit oxidised. 81/100
Saint Supery Dollarhide Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Napa Valley
This is toasty and nutty with lots of wood character as well as ripe, quite exotic Sauvignon notes. Very much in the rich, flamboyant style. 85/100
Yering Station Pinot Noir 2016 Yarra Valley
What has happened to Yering Station? Sweet, soft, warm herby fruit here. Broad and ripe and a bit formless. Rich style. 86/100
Domaine Des 3 Cellier Châteauneuf du Pape 2016 Southern Rhône, France
Ripe, sweet and lush with a green herbal edge to the cherry and raspberry fruit with some jamminess. 87/100
Ballad Old Vine Garnacha 2015 Caribeña, Spain
Soft, sweet, lush and dense. Has a herbal edge to the warm, rounded berry fruits. A little tired? 85/100
Las Olas Malbec Reserve 2016 Famatina Valley, Argentina
Nice plum green-tinged blackcurrant and blackberry fruit here. Lush but well defined with a slight saltiness. 88/100
Other lounge wine write-ups – here and here
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3 Comments on Another BA lounge wine round-up
Lounge access is always fun in Europe for wine, less so in the USA. What wine choices do you have? Red and white, sir.
2016 was a hot compressed vintage in the Yarra Valley, thus the Yering Station looks a bit over. Some picked earlier and are a bit under. Tricky vintage. 2015 and 2017 are the ones to look for.
Cheers.
On Yering Station – ‘16 was a hard vintage (dry, hot) for many Yarra producers, and Yering Station has looked off the pace for a few vintages too. Double trouble.
Hah, two Australian Andrews who can remember what the weather was like and perhaps uneasy about the way vintage averages seem to be getting hotter and drier!