First Growth Wine Flight

[techteach]

@Rothko1 We’ve been collecting Insignia since 1986. We visited the winery and had an arranged a tasting. As we were leaving I said, “You know, you really should start a club.” Her reply was, “well what would float your boat?” I replied, “each year I get one bottle of Insignia and one bottle of Bacchus.” We are founding members. 

 

Which ports do you collect?

 

Everyday whites…

 

 

[Rothko1]

Just now, techteach said:

@Rothko1 We’ve been collecting Insignia since 1986. We visited the winery and had an arranged a tasting. As we were leaving I said, “You know, you really should start a club.” Her reply was, “well what would float your boat?” I replied, “each year I get one bottle of Insignia and one bottle of Bacchus.” We are founding members. 

 

Which ports do you collect?

 

Everyday whites…

 

 

Nice!  I've never had Bacchus.

 

As far as the VPs, Fonseca and Taylor Fladgate are the big ones.  Some Dow and a few other houses in smaller amounts.

 

I have some port going back to the 70's, but most is from the 90's.  I think I stopped buying around 2000 or so.

 

 

[techteach]

@Rothko1 Nice! DH is the real port collector - he gets 2 bottles for Christmas each year, one for long term and one for short term. There was a wine merchant in Portland, Oregon, who bought cellars from the local wine owners and he always had old vintage port. Alas, he went out of business during Covid. (I prefer Insignia to Bacchus…)

[Rothko1]

Just now, techteach said:

@Rothko1 Nice! DH is the real port collector - he gets 2 bottles for Christmas each year, one for long term and one for short term. There was a wine merchant in Portland, Oregon, who bought cellars from the local wine owners and he always had old vintage port. Alas, he went out of business during Covid. (I prefer Insignia to Bacchus…)

 

I always love the British concept of buying a pipe of port to lay down when a child was born.  Alas, I had neither the resources, nor the storage capacity, to do so when my boys were born.

 

(For those not aware, a "pipe" is about 550 liters, or equal to about 60 cases of vintage port!).

[Rothko1]

7 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Rothko1 Nice! DH is the real port collector - he gets 2 bottles for Christmas each year, one for long term and one for short term. There was a wine merchant in Portland, Oregon, who bought cellars from the local wine owners and he always had old vintage port. Alas, he went out of business during Covid. (I prefer Insignia to Bacchus…)

 

Does your husband like tawny ports?  My brother-in-law loves them, so when he visits he always brings along a 20 or 30 year tawny, and I do have to admit that they are quite delicious!

[techteach]

We talked about it for our grandsons, but storage is the issue. For years we paid for off-site storage, but then we’d need a bigger locker, or the place would go out of business, or would move. The Vin has paid for itself. We’ve thought about buying another one for the port but I don’t know where we’d put it.

[techteach]

@Rothko1 We really aren’t tawny port fans. I made the mistake of buying him a ???Kotko??? can’t remember, and it wasn’t a big hit. Currently on the bar…

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by techteach
editorial to add: Of course 20 year old tawny is probably pretty darn good!

[Rothko1]

3 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Rothko1 We really aren’t tawny port fans. I made the mistake of buying him a ???Kotko??? can’t remember, and it wasn’t a big hit. Currently on the bar…

 

 

 

Yum yum!  

 

But don't drink that Fonseca!  It needs a lot more time!

[techteach]

@Rothko1 Re-organizing my sewing room and look what I found!

 

[NE John]

2 hours ago, D&N said:

perhaps they could ask my questions

I’ll attempt a scouting mission to find out these details during my upcoming June Crossing.
I plan to sip on a fair amount of port all week too. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by NE John

[NE John]

This thread has been one of my favorites in the short time I’ve been a CC member. 
Great information all!

I’m very much open to try some Wash State Rieslings now. 

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, techteach said:

@exlondoner I too wish you were near enough to drop in for dinner. @Victoria2 would also be invited and several others.

How kind. I accept!😀

 

I often wish there was some sort of private messaging system where one could connect.

Never mind, if ever you’re on Victoria, or Queen Anne next year and we’re on the same cruise, you're invited to dinner at ours. You’ll have to slum it with whatever we have in the fridge the wine list but you'd be most welcome.  🙂

[techteach]

34 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

How kind. I accept!😀

 

I often wish there was some sort of private messaging system where one could connect.

Never mind, if ever you’re on Victoria, or Queen Anne next year and we’re on the same cruise, you're invited to dinner at ours. You’ll have to slum it with whatever we have in the fridge the wine list but you'd be most welcome.  🙂

Oh @Victoria2 I’ll be happy to bring the wines.

[Victoria2]

6 hours ago, techteach said:

Oh @Victoria2 I’ll be happy to bring the wines.

Again, kind but nope. We entertain, we provide. However, being cheapskates and non connoisseurs [this thread is waaaay above my pay grade 😄], it won't be the expensive stuff, just Champagne,  Sauvignon Blanc and some red my husband likes.

[techteach]

Short ribs tonight with…yum.

Edited April 3, 2023 by techteach
Thought of you @D&N

[D&N]

@techteach Would be interested in your opinion of it?

It frequently appears on lists here. The more recent vintages are quite decent prices.

[techteach]

6 hours ago, D&N said:

@techteach Would be interested in your opinion of it?

It frequently appears on lists here. The more recent vintages are quite decent prices.

@D&N The wine was wonderful, and so were the short ribs.  It was a 2012, smooth and rich with soft tannins from the very beginning. I wish I could remember the flavor profile, but that was last night and we didn’t actually discuss it, we just drank it and enjoyed while watching the grandsons play.

[D&N]

@techteach Thank you. I'll watch for good offers on it in the late summer wine promos.

I don't get too descriptive on wine, but many years ago we started on a red and I needed chocolate with it because it had very strong dark chocolate flavours. I usually just note that it's good and the taste can be savoured for a long time.

 

Our Sunday wine was good but previous bottles have been better.

Our hypermarket's own brand is "Club de Sommeliers". In that they have a premium section "Grandes Réserves". A top producer bottles their wine with the supermarket label. They market the stuff at about 50% of the price of the named wine. Most folk aren't fooled and guess that it's probably more like a Chateau's 2nd wines. On promotion we can save 50% on their price, so they are great value.

 

The Saint Emilion was decanted 90 mins before dinner but it didn't open out as well as usual. It's on left of picture. The real stuff, which we've never tried is in the middle. But in comparison last weeks Mouton Cadet on right started with less flavour but was opening well in last glass. The deal on that was a fraction of the price. I'll decant it next time. Of course I went back for more at the price and there's now 12 in the cellar.

 

[techteach]

Mouton Cadet sounds familiar from a long long time ago, I’ll have to ask my DH. But, I’m glad it was good enough to warrant a case purchase. Will you cellar it for very long? I was going to ask you if there are traditionally specific food items we should request with the first growth tasting on the QM2 in June.

[D&N]

The Mouton Cadet is for drinking. But it's good enough for general Sunday dinners or when we have friends staying. I don't think it will deteriorate if it takes us 2 or 3 years to get through it. It's good enough at the price we paid. It took two visits to maximise the three different discounts I was getting. The shop is about 5 mins walk so It's easy to visit frequently. Our apartment will be too hot to store wine soon. It all lives in the cellar. We'll probably need to switch on the chocolate fridge soon as well, which is where open boxes of red wine live in summer.

I'm no expert on tasting. For wine of that value I'd simply want some water and perhaps dry bread/rolls to kill off the flavours between different wines.

If I ever buy some I would keep it for a good cut of well flavoured red meat or duck breast. And it would be good with a mature Comté cheese (my favourite!).

[techteach]

I called my Cunard TA today in hopes she could help me learn details on the First Growth Wine Flight. Unfortunately I didn’t learn anything we can’t read on-line. She did say, “it all depends upon how many people sign-up for it.” That sounds like my idea of having it served at dinner is not an option. We will try to book it on-board at the end of June and I’ll report back. In the mean-time remember that life is too short to drink bad wine. (Bad wine as defined by the person consuming it…to avoid comments that could get us in trouble with @Host Hattie)

[D&N]

I'd be surprised if your TA knew anything about this particular offer. I suspect she probably thought you were asking about one of the group tastings that are sometimes in daily programs. I don't think they use Coravin Timeless for them.

The Timeless system doesn't involve opening the bottle. A fine hollow needle offset from centre to avoid piercing the same spot twice feeds argon gas at pressure into the bottle replacing the displaced wine. It's claimed that the wine will remain in perfect condition for at least 2 years. They use it for the 75ml servings of these wines as well, so it's something that must be available in their restaurants.

That's another thought...  The saving on The Wine Flight pro-rata to the cost per ml of individual 75ml glasses is only $13. If the 20% saving from the drinks package was not available on the Flight but was on the 75ml glasses, then sharing a glass per night would be better value. Just means you'd need to remember from day to day how each tasted, by taking notes I suppose.

[D&N]

I've found the QE program again from January 15th 2017. It had been uploaded to a blog "beyondships2".

 

[D&N]

I also found a recent blog where "Bryce Sanders" reported on a chat with Vellen Mootoosamy, the Chief Sommelier on QV near start of this years World Cruise. One of the claims was that for wines over $250 Cunard would offer the Coravin system if you didn't want to have the whole bottle with one meal.

 

The dinner wines I'm likely to be interested in are currently in a range from $67 to $76. I'm wondering if you brought your own Coravin whether the sommelier would be prepared to use it to serve half the bottle?

That would remove the need to drink the other half the next night and make it easier to select wine based on your meal. One issue might be storage; the sommelier might not have space to keep up to 7 bottles for one 2-top. You might need to keep them in cabin and bring to restaurant at lunchtime for service that evening.

 

Something else "Bryce" noted was the limit of $150 bottles of wine for the 20% discount if you had the  drink package. That isn't in the current T&Cs. He doesn't give the source for that comment though.

 

[exlondoner]

26 minutes ago, D&N said:

I also found a recent blog where "Bryce Sanders" reported on a chat with Vellen Mootoosamy, the Chief Sommelier on QV near start of this years World Cruise. One of the claims was that for wines over $250 Cunard would offer the Coravin system if you didn't want to have the whole bottle with one meal.

 

The dinner wines I'm likely to be interested in are currently in a range from $67 to $76. I'm wondering if you brought your own Coravin whether the sommelier would be prepared to use it to serve half the bottle?

That would remove the need to drink the other half the next night and make it easier to select wine based on your meal. One issue might be storage; the sommelier might not have space to keep up to 7 bottles for one 2-top. You might need to keep them in cabin and bring to restaurant at lunchtime for service that evening.

 

Something else "Bryce" noted was the limit of $150 bottles of wine for the 20% discount if you had the  drink package. That isn't in the current T&Cs. He doesn't give the source for that comment though.

 

Presumably if you had one of their wine collections, they would have space to keep all the bottles to hand, so it might be possible.