Wine Tasting on Insignia

[Bxianesq]

We are on our first Oceania cruise in July (Insignia to Cuba).  We paid with our AMEX Platinum card.  In addition to getting $300 in shipboard credit, we will also get to attend a premium wine tasting event and select a bottle of wine from the tasting menu.  Can anyone fill me in on what the wine tasting involves, and what the limitations are (if any) in terms of selecting our bottle of wine?

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Bxianesq said:

We are on our first Oceania cruise in July (Insignia to Cuba).  We paid with our AMEX Platinum card.  In addition to getting $300 in shipboard credit, we will also get to attend a premium wine tasting event and select a bottle of wine from the tasting menu.  Can anyone fill me in on what the wine tasting involves, and what the limitations are (if any) in terms of selecting our bottle of wine?

Depending on the length of the cruise and number of sea days, there will be a menu of wine tastings and cocktail tastings of varying quality (as evidenced by the associated price).

 

Obviously, this is as much about lightening your wallet as it is about educating your palate.

 

We've been to many of these over the years and there are occasions when we learn something of traditional or historical significance (usually regarding Euro wines which, as NorCal folks, have yet to really bowl us over).

 

What I don't know is if your AMEX amenity is for one of these "open to all" tastings or something special for AMEX card holders. In any case, the average tasting will have about six selections with a few "pairing" food bits. The bottles may usually roughly range in shipboard price from $50-$150 (which translates to approx. $20-$60 USD retail at home). Sometimes, there's a great bottle in the bunch worth more (again, the regular price of the tasting will give you a good idea of what to expect). 

[aquidneck1]

We went to one and we had several wines and a cheese pairing.  We were given a list from which we could choose the bottle of wine.  The list included wines that we did not taste. 

 

The second time, we arrived and they thought that we would be the only couple so they gave us 2 bottles of wine instead of the tasting.  That was fine with us since the wines were better than those on the standard list.  

[GeezerCouple]

We went to that Amex Plat wine tasting on our first Oceania cruise a few years ago.

It was a huge disappointment.  The wines were awful.

They were very cheap if one looked them up online for land-based retail purchase.

We took the "least bad" bottle offered as the freebie and then gave it away.

 

We never bothered with another.

 

What bothered us more was that at our first La Reserve dinner, that same wine was one of the wine pairings, and it didn't taste any better then, either.

We were going to go to all 3 of the La Reserve menus, but after the second, we cancelled the third.

The food was wonderful, but the wines were pretty mediocre, and for the prices for those special dinners, we could eat in the GDR or a specialty and get a very nice bottle (or 2 or 3, given the La Reserve price for 2) indeed.

GC

[StanandJim]

43 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

if one looked them up online for land-based retail purchase.

The wines were awful, yet you looked them up for land based retail purchase???

 

Similar to the dowagers who found the food disgusting but were incensed at the small portions.  🤐

[GeezerCouple]

13 minutes ago, StanandJim said:

The wines were awful, yet you looked them up for land based retail purchase???

 

Similar to the dowagers who found the food disgusting but were incensed at the small portions.  🤐

 

C'mon StanandJim... you are getting really picky these days... on many topics...

 

Right... we just could not wait to order cases and even more cases of the lousy wine.

 

Did it - could it - occur to you that we were curious about how cheap these wines really were?

We knew *we* didn't like them, but we weren't familiar with them.

So, yes indeedy, we were curious about their land-based costs.

 

Not sorry if you find that offensive or off-putting.

 

GC

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, StanandJim said:

The wines were awful, yet you looked them up for land based retail purchase???

 

Similar to the dowagers who found the food disgusting but were incensed at the small portions.  🤐

Perhaps s/he only looked for the wine prices out of curiosity to see what, if any, value was associated with the offerings.

 

If folks want great wine onboard (without having to mortgage your home), bring your own. We research the embarkation port for a good wine retailer (e.g., Total Wines in Miami or Australian Wine Center in Sydney, etc.) and bring aboard from 6-12 bottles in collapsible cardboard winery carriers (transported in our checked bags). We usually budget a max of $50-80 USD/bottle price tag. We replenish the stock at appropriate ports as needed.

 

Once onboard, we get copies of the "7 bottle wine deal" and the "bin end" flyers and review them for wines we like or, in some very quick "googling," determine to be one of the OCCASIONAL "great buys" on the list worth trying. As needed, we often use these two sources to add to our onboard stock. On one long cruise, we bought a 7 bottle package of a single wine with which we were familiar and which was the most "expensive" one on the list (a >$25 bottle among <$10 retail wines).

[pinotlover]

Strangely, I have never encountered an awlful wine at any of the numerous La Reserve dinners we have attended. A few may have well sliden into the mediocre camp , but never awlful. While I might not be overwhelmed with a particular wine, I always take notice of what they are attempting to achieve with any particular pairing. Then, later at home, I can find a stylistically similar wine, at a better quality level to match the pairings. I see the dinners as a fun evening providing a learning experience. If one’s expectations are top end wines, they will be disappointed. The quality of the wine doesn’t meet that of the food.

 

What I struggle with often leading wine tastings and doing high end event wine pairings is dealing with obsessive personal preferences. For example, some people prefer fruit bombs. They will rave over a big Aussie Mollydocker Shiraz while at the same time dishing a Cotie Rote as being awlful. No , that CR was not awlful, it just wasn’t your preferred style.

 

This brings us to the larger issue. These dinners are food pairings events, not wine drinking events. Big fruit bombs don’t often pair well with many ( most) foods. Many of the great food wines aren’t particularly great when consumed without the proper pairings. One can often read distinguish winemakers say “ I don’t make food wines, I make wines to be enjoyed by themselves “. Those hedonistic “ cocktail “ wines often don’t pair well with food. With wine and food pairings you are trying to highlight the food while giving the customer a pleasant drinking experience. I believe La Reserve achieves that goal splendidly. Could O step the wines up a notch? Absolutely! Does that mean we’d be seeing those NorCal fruity cocktail wines with the pairings? Probably not. Enjoy those as cocktails, and learn from the food wine pairings. JMO! 🍷

[pinotlover]

To add to this discussion, we attended two of the wine tastings on the Marina in February. These tasting were to highlight the wines. For the first time, a different small plate was offered with each of the different wines. The flavors in those dishes were meant to accentuate and highlight the flavors of the wine. A fun tasting and an example of the benefits  of finally having a real Sommelier aboard . 

 

The wine tastings stand in contrast to La Reserve dinners where the wines are not the “ features” , but the compliment of the food. Reverse strategies!

 

A additional hint. Don’t eat lunch before those new tasting! The food provided at the tasting will stuff you! 🍷

[babysteps]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

A additional hint.

What Pinotlover said 🙂

 

One more hint-if you "know what you like", wine wise, ask ahead about which wines will be featured.  The wine tastings (afternoons, with small plates) typically are made up of wines that are on the wine list (bottles, not just by-the-glass) and centered around a theme (Italian, or old world vs. new world, etc).  Someone on the beverage team should be able to get you a specific list.  You don't have to be surprised. 

 

On the other hand, if you are in the "discovering what I like" phase of wine, it's a great opportunity to try some additional wines and compare notes with the folks around you.  Even if (er, when) there are wines that you find not to your taste, this adds to your knowledge base, and you can pick up some key words to use (that describe what qualities you didn't like) the next time you are faced with a list where nothing is familiar to you.

 

For the La Reserve dinners, all wines are listed in the menus, and all have been rated highly by Wine Spectator.  Easy to research ahead of time if you don't like surprises and/or know exactly what you like (or, what you like to pay for lol).

[Cruise Junky]

4 hours ago, pinotlover said:

 

What I struggle with often leading wine tastings and doing high end event wine pairings is dealing with obsessive personal preferences. For example, some people prefer fruit bombs. They will rave over a big Aussie Mollydocker Shiraz while at the same time dishing a Cotie Rote as being awlful. No , that CR was not awlful, it just wasn’t your preferred style.

 

OMG this 100%.  We have friends that are fruit and alcohol bomb fans.  Won't drink white at all no matter what they eat.  They'll often comment that a certain wine was bad and my first question is always...what did you eat with it?...oh crab and lemon...hmmm no wonder your napa cab at over 15% wasn't as good as you though it would be.