First Growth Wine Flight

[alc13]

1 hour 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.

 

You mean that small Coravin?  Seems they could manage that for you if you brought one along.  

 

I think the $250 minimum for Coravin is steep, by the way.  A $100 wine is a splurge, in my opinion, and worth the extra bit of care in storage.  

[Rothko1]

1 hour 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.

 

 

The two of you don't want to drink a bottle a night at dinner?  That's only two glasses per.  If that's the case, why not just order from the wine-by-the-glass menu?  Of course, you don't get quite the variety but you avoid the hassles.

[D&N]

1 minute ago, Rothko1 said:

 

The two of you don't want to drink a bottle a night at dinner?  That's only two glasses per.  If that's the case, why not just order from the wine-by-the-glass menu?  Of course, you don't get quite the variety but you avoid the hassles.

We don't want to drink a bottle of good wine. We want to drink half then move on to wine by the glass. If we decided not to go for the package we'd continue on a cheaper bottle.

[Rothko1]

4 minutes ago, D&N said:

We don't want to drink a bottle of good wine. We want to drink half then move on to wine by the glass. If we decided not to go for the package we'd continue on a cheaper bottle.

 

Makes sense.  

 

If you don't want to take the Coravin route, you can always try the half bottle trick I use:  I have a couple of empty half bottles with corks.  If I only want half a regular bottle, I put the remainder into the half bottle, filling it all the way up to the cork line and putting in the cork as close as possible to the wine to minimize the amount of oxygen.  The oxidation is minimal, especially if you put it in a fridge.  Will last longer than putting a regular half filled bottled into a fridge.

[techteach]

@Rothko1 What a great idea! We seem to manage to drink a bottle with dinner since we eat early and take it with us to what ever follows dinner.

[Rothko1]

2 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Rothko1 What a great idea! We seem to manage to drink a bottle with dinner since we eat early and take it with us to what ever follows dinner.

 

That's a great idea too!  Find a nice comfortable spot with a great view, and watch the waves go by while enjoying a fine wine.  Life is good!

[techteach]

We find that a really great wine takes longer to drink than a wine of less quality. We linger over each sip and talk about it more. We had an Oregon Petit Verdot last night and I said at least 3 times, “this is a really nice wine,” and it lasted well past dinner. No waves to watch, but the grand boys with their trains were just as fun. Yes, Life is good!

[Rothko1]

2 minutes ago, techteach said:

We find that a really great wine takes longer to drink than a wine of less quality. We linger over each sip and talk about it more. We had an Oregon Petit Verdot last night and I said at least 3 times, “this is a really nice wine,” and it lasted well past dinner. No waves to watch, but the grand boys with their trains were just as fun. Yes, Life is good!

 

I hear you.  That 1997 Insignia was a wine that I savored literally sip by sip, especially as I got to the end of the bottle.  I think I have two bottles left. 

[techteach]

37 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

 

I hear you.  That 1997 Insignia was a wine that I savored literally sip by sip, especially as I got to the end of the bottle.  I think I have two bottles left. 

‘97 sounds great. I’ll try to fire up my laptop so I can get to the spread sheet and see if we have any ‘97 left. When did you drink it last?

[Rothko1]

41 minutes ago, techteach said:

‘97 sounds great. I’ll try to fire up my laptop so I can get to the spread sheet and see if we have any ‘97 left. When did you drink it last?

A long time ago.  At least before Covid.

[D&N]

@alc13 Pivot (left) & Timeless (right, which Cunard use) are the two I'm looking at. They aren't very big and I can't imagine they weigh very much.

Pivot cheaper to buy, cork is removed and replaced by a stopper. Only supposed to keep wine up to 2 weeks. Benefit is it uses a little less argon gas than the other version.

Timeless is more expensive, uses a bit more argon, but the cork is only removed when you are ready to finish the bottle and will keep the contents for over 2 years.

I'm inclined to buy the Timeless, simply for the 2 year plus life of the wine. That would allow me to buy much more expensive wines at home without having to drink them within a short period of opening.

[D&N]

52 minutes ago, techteach said:

‘97 sounds great. I’ll try to fire up my laptop so I can get to the spread sheet and see if we have any ‘97 left. When did you drink it last?

I've been using CellarTracker for a number of years https://www.cellartracker.com/default.asp 

There's Android and iPhone versions.

[techteach]

@Rothko1 It took great patience got get through all of the updates, but I finally got into the spreadsheet. Our Insignia only goes back to 2003. I show we’ve been drinking it in December the last several years with serious red meat. You know what we get every year and never drink is the Phelps’s Eisrebe. The Backus goes back to 2007.

[Victoria2]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, Tesco has some cracking offers on some less expensive and  very quaffable wines.

Our fav. house white, worked out at around £6.30 a bottle which contrasts very favourably with its usual £10.

I bought a couple of dozen, which should see us for a week or two!👍

[techteach]

@D&N I started using cellar tracker many years ago when it first came out because the developer lived on the hill across the way from us. I found I couldn’t keep up our list in two places. But, it IS a good resource. We have 1986 Mouton-Rothschild, ‘86 Margaux, and ‘86 Chateau Pichon-Lalande that I track for drinkability. But, I haven’t looked in several years. Your post reminds me to go check.

[techteach]

@Victoria2 What’s your house white? Ours shifts based on what’s on sale and what’s available. DH is the consumer of all house white while I am a dry rose girl.

[D&N]

2 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

 

The two of you don't want to drink a bottle a night at dinner?  That's only two glasses per.  If that's the case, why not just order from the wine-by-the-glass menu?  Of course, you don't get quite the variety but you avoid the hassles.

We would normally have an aperitif before dinner. Aim is to share half bottle of something like the Château Tour Pibran, Pauillac (it was lovely) or one of the Burgundy whites, then move on to a small glass of Cunards house wine. When we leave the restaurant we'll be up dancing 90% of at least the next 3 hours so we just get cheap dry refreshing white or rose by the glass along with lots of water to keep us hydrated. Then it's off to Chart Room for Grand Marnier. We'd have wine at lunch too, so if we weren't on drinks package the cheap lunchtime bottle would get finished at end of dinner.

 

We made a mistake one night. Had aperitif, given prosecco at Jubilee Gala Dinner, shared good bottle along with Chateaubriand. By time we started dancing our control was gone and we probably collided with others on a rather full floor more than I would have liked.

[alc13]

21 minutes ago, D&N said:

@alc13 Pivot (left) & Timeless (right, which Cunard use) are the two I'm looking at. They aren't very big and I can't imagine they weigh very much.

Pivot cheaper to buy, cork is removed and replaced by a stopper. Only supposed to keep wine up to 2 weeks. Benefit is it uses a little less argon gas than the other version.

Timeless is more expensive, uses a bit more argon, but the cork is only removed when you are ready to finish the bottle and will keep the contents for over 2 years.

I'm inclined to buy the Timeless, simply for the 2 year plus life of the wine. That would allow me to buy much more expensive wines at home without having to drink them within a short period of opening.

Interesting, I assumed they used a bigger model.

 

We have the Timeless, and it's okay with a few drawbacks.  The cartridges only last for 8-10 uses, as I recall, and get used up faster as the bottle gets emptier.  It pours really slowly and you have to repressurize the bottle sometimes to get a full glass.  And Coravin advises against using it with plastic corks, which are so common nowadays.  (I guess the plastic doesn't heal as well as cork? - although on the other hand I can't imagine such a tiny hole would allow much air to pass, so maybe this isn't a big concern.)  Those caveats aside, it does seem like a great solution for open bottles that will be stored for long periods.

[Victoria2]

8 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Victoria2 What’s your house white? Ours shifts based on what’s on sale and what’s available. DH is the consumer of all house white while I am a dry rose girl.

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Oyster Bay preferably, but happy with Brandcott, and Dog Point if it's reasonable 'ish.

[exlondoner]

7 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Oyster Bay preferably, but happy with Brandcott, and Dog Point if it's reasonable 'ish.

Ned, Stich, and the one they have on the QG cabin free booze choices is quite nice.

[techteach]

@D&N Well that was interesting. Sounds like we should drink the Margaux and continue to hold the Mouton. I can’t find the Pichon-Lalande.

[D&N]

@alc13 We do get plastic corks now and again, and wines with agglomerated cork stoppers. But the only ones I would want to keep for an extended period would have natural corks.

[Rothko1]

2 hours ago, techteach said:

@D&N I started using cellar tracker many years ago when it first came out because the developer lived on the hill across the way from us. I found I couldn’t keep up our list in two places. But, it IS a good resource. We have 1986 Mouton-Rothschild, ‘86 Margaux, and ‘86 Chateau Pichon-Lalande that I track for drinkability. But, I haven’t looked in several years. Your post reminds me to go check.

 

My first great bottle of wine I ever owned was a 1986 Ch. Margaux, given to me as a college graduation gift from my wife.  Alas, it was stolen from me.

 

I'm a big fan of Ch. Pichon Lalande, but my collection starts with the 1994 vintage.  Got lots of 95 and 96.

[Rothko1]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Oyster Bay preferably, but happy with Brandcott, and Dog Point if it's reasonable 'ish.

 

Not a fan of the New Zealand Sav Blancs.  I used to smell and taste the grapefruit and cut grass, but now I really only get "cat pee" from it.  🙂  

 

So obviously, I don't drink it anymore.  

 

More for you!   Happy to know you enjoy it.  My sister loves it too.

[Victoria2]

50 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

 

Not a fan of the New Zealand Sav Blancs.  I used to smell and taste the grapefruit and cut grass, but now I really only get "cat pee" from it.  🙂  

 

So obviously, I don't drink it anymore.  

 

More for you!   Happy to know you enjoy it.  My sister loves it too.

 I have very basic tastes in many things but I have yet to get down to tasting cat pee in the wine I drink.

 

I'll just have to keep quaffing until the pee hits me. 😄

 

Can I just edit this by adding I haven't actually tasted cat's pee so am not well versed in cat's pee tasting notes but I'm sure I'll know if I ever do come across that added flavour. 😁

Edited April 7, 2023 by Victoria2