![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/loungewhites-500x500.jpg\")
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I find myself in the airport lounge with some time to spare, so I thought I’d write notes on the lounge wines. I’m a geek! Destination this time is Japan to investigate the Nagano wine region in more depth. I don’t expect much from lounge wines, because airlines’ wine budgets are very limited, even for business class, these days. But there were some nice surprises here.<\/p>\n
Paul Cluver Riesling 2017 Elgin, South Africa<\/strong> Crazy Creatures Gr\u00fcner Veltliner 2017 Kremstal, Austria<\/strong> Xenna Chenin Blanc 2018 Swartland, South Africa<\/strong> Pez de Rio Macabeo Sauvignon Blanc 2017 Spain<\/strong> Jean-Luc Colombo Les F\u00e9es Brunes Crozes-Hermitage Syrah 2016 Northern Rh\u00f4ne, France<\/strong> Alain Jaume Les Valats Rasteau 2015 Southern Rh\u00f4ne, France<\/strong> Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir 2015 California<\/strong> Wolf Blass Gold Label Shiraz 2015 Barossa, Australia<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I find myself in the airport lounge with some time to spare, so I thought I’d write notes on the lounge wines. I’m a geek! Destination this time is Japan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22806"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22810,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22806\/revisions\/22810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThis is lovely. There’s a bit of sweetness perfectly balancing the keen acidity, and pure citrus fruit with a really nice brightness and focus. Good concentration and purity, and should develop well over several years in bottle. 90\/100<\/p>\n
\nFresh and linear with clean, appealing citrus and melon fruit. There’s even a hint of mint here, with clean, fresh fruit and good acidity. Pleasant, with a touch of grip, but not overly complex. 86\/100<\/p>\n
\nVivid, clean and modern with bright, primary pear, tangerine and nectarine fruit, backed up by fresh acidity. A very well made, fruity commercial white wine, but not complex or serious. 84\/100<\/p>\n
\nThis is light, fresh and fruity with some citrus and pear fruit. A bit dilute, with no real flavour. But perfectly drinkable and clean. 80\/100<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/loungereds-500x500.jpg\")
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\nThis is pretty good: a polished, modern expression of Crozes-Hermitage with black cherries, a bit of pepper spice and a sleek blackcurrant note, too. Fruity and easy but with a hint of seriousness. 89\/100<\/p>\n
\nA nice surprise. This is supple, ripe and smooth with nice grainy structure supporting cherry and berry fruits. Quite rich, but harmonious with a chalky edge to the lush, supple black fruit palate. Very stylish: ripe but in balance. 90\/100<\/p>\n
\nSeductive and sweetly fruited, with a luxurious, slightly jammy cherry and berry fruits core and some slightly charred, toasty oak in the background, with some cedar and clove edges. It’s very ripe and sweet, and quite easy to drink: clearly aiming at sweeter-toothed Pinot lovers, and quite well done in its style. 85\/100<\/p>\n
\nThis is concentrated, rich and powerful with lush, sweet blackberry and black cherry fruit, underpinned by notes of tar, spice and pepper. It’s sleek and polished with plenty of ripe, slightly jammy fruit, but it all pulls together quite well, with some harmony and balance. 91\/100<\/p>\n