Wine Shops : The Wine Gallery and Crystal Wines

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Both The Wine Gallery [No. 2 Chang Charn Road (Off Hoy Fatt Road)] and Crystal Wines [491 River Valley Road #01-02/03 Valley Point Singapore 248371] are having their Great Singapore Sales of wines this weekend!

The Wine Gallery had the wine tasting in their warehouse setup with about 9-10 distributors and their wines, I got a Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 for $32.50 highly dark heavy fruit flavours with a commendable length and a Bleasdale Late Picked Riesling for a value buy of $16.50 with light almond fig sweetness minus the usual lemon citrus punch. They also had nice German Rieslings, of worthy mention were the Schloss Lieser Helden Spatlese from 2003,2004 and 2005, of which the 2005 stood out with more flavourful lychee, lemon sweetness with less acidity and nice flora aromas.
Excellent service, friendly and generous pours of wine, The Wine Gallery staff and their distributors made everyone feel at home and most customers were enjoying themselves.
Keep up the great work!


Crystal Wines had a bunch of 30 wines outside the shop for tasting such as Mitolo Jester, Tamar Range Pinot Noir, Battle of Bosworth Shiraz etc. I tasted a few interesting Pinot Noirs and enjoyed the Aussie Mouton Estate Hawk's Bay the best. There was a light sweet bubbly sparkling wine from Italy 5% alcohol only- Moscato going for $23. It's essentially ice cream soda with alcohol, but very popular among the customers. The attendants were friendly and offered the wines when asked. I got the Chateau Doisy Vedrines Sauternes 2002 (375ml) for $33.

Wine Entry : Glorioso Crianza Rioja 2002 (Spanish)

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BlueDolp got this Spanish wine when she was holidaying in Spain. Nice reddish brick colour in the glass.
Smell : Heavy fumes of intense dark fruit, chocolate and alcohol.

Taste : Smooth, flavoursome with cherry/cherry skins. But unbalanced with over-weightage on alcohol.

After taste : Tinge of oak, cocoa/vanilla and fine bitter tannins.

Wine News : To buy or not to buy Bordeaux 2007s

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Recent articles in the Edge Singapore magazine have given the 2007s quite a beating.
[Credits : both written by Kelvin Tan]
And unsurpisingly too, months of May and June spun out the flowering with failure for the grapes to develop. June continued to be overcast and grey, and evolved into a dull, drizzly July, and, to cap it all, a cool, showery second half of August stretched the grapes’ resistance to the limit. Mildew and rot was prevalent.

I would compare the 2007s to the 1997s exactly a decade before, where rain in May and late June caused rot. Instead of the 2002s and 2004s which the wine world would attempt to associate with, to justify the unjustified high prices.
Remember that the 2007s come after the extraordinary 2005s, which soaked up much of the liquidity demand for investment type vintages.

And also the credit crunch and rising food, oil and commodity prices will dampen the enthusiasm for 2007 En Primeur wines. Indeed, the 2006 En Primeur campaign was a pale comparison to the 2005. I would recommend to divert the budget for buying 2007s to picking distressed and depressed 2005s when the impending US recession starts (which some say already started) .

Wine Entry : Seifried Nelson Riesling Ice Wine 2005 (New Zealand)

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Brought this wine at the DFS shop in Auckland Airport NZ. Understand that most of the New Zealand Ice Wines are actually grapes which are picked first and then frozen in a freezer, as opposed to those like Germany's Eiswein which actually freeze on the vine. Nice golden yellow in the glass.
Smell : Delicate citrus and honey scents, with a touch of grass vegetation

Taste : Delicious, honey sweetness first approach. Easy drinking.

After-taste : Slightly overpowering lychee sweetness followed by substantial citrus/green apple acidity.

Post-entry remark : Found this wine's 2006 vintage being sold at the Isetan Scotts supermarket for S$51.30