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Mariner - Wine availability


flossie009
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Could anyone on Mariner at the moment confirm whether New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is now available?

 

During our recent Lisbon-Miami crossing it was unavailable. There was plenty of Californian Sauvingnon Blanc (not to our taste) and an acceptable Chilean variety. Sancerre could be obtained by pressuring the Sommeliers.

 

The Head Sommelier, Zhivkov (spelling?), agreed that not having a New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc was a regrettable omission and explained that the cases had not been loaded into the Regent container shipped to Europe. He indicated that it would be available once the ship re-stocked in Miami.

 

 

Sorry to start a new thread for this query but the 'live update' thread seems to have degenerated into an off-topic spat again :confused::confused:

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A dear friend passed along to me Responder's "pouring wines" list from his last trip on the Mariner a few weeks ago. (Thank you, Responder!)

 

Here are the different Sauvignon Blanc selections from a variety of the dining locales on the ship:

 

Tributo (Chile)

Sancere Le Grand Buis (France)

Rodney Strong (USA)

Edited by jhp
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What are pouring wines? I thought all wines had to be poured from the bottle. Is it an odd expression for complementary wines? If so how does one get a list. I've always been turned down on Regent.

Hope the NZ Sauvignon Blanc gets back on board and remains on board in sufficient quantity for all Regent cruises and all ships.

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What are pouring wines? I thought all wines had to be poured from the bottle. Is it an odd expression for complementary wines? If so how does one get a list. I've always been turned down on Regent.

Hope the NZ Sauvignon Blanc gets back on board and remains on board in sufficient quantity for all Regent cruises and all ships.

 

 

Wines available by the "pour" rather than providing a bottle to sit on the table. You might have run into this in bars or restaurants that serve "wine by the glass." One of the benefits is trying different wines at one sitting without overdoing. Or, having a glass of white followed by a glass of red.

Edited by OctoberKat
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All wines are poured by the bottle and is kept on a holder near the table(s) (unless you purchase a bottle of wine in which case the bottle is put on your table). However, if you ask for a wine that is not the "wine of the day", they will usually keep the bottle near your table so they can continue to serve you that particular wine. As I mentioned on another thread, wine lists change. If I knew that there was so much interest in a list of included wines, I would have posted them from our last cruise (no longer have the list). However, what we had in October may not be the same in January. Just as with sommeliers in restaurants, if you describe the type of wine that you enjoy to the sommelier, they will try to meet your requirements. IMO, the sommelier is much better than any list.

 

Sometimes, when the wine of the day is something we enjoy, we will ask for it again. The quality of wine on Regent has not changed over the years. Their included wines are basically very drinkable - some more than others. We prefer California, Washington or South African wines over Chilean, Spanish or Australian..... but, that is just our taste.

 

In terms of the specific wine mentioned on this thread, it is possible that it is currently more difficult to obtain this wine. After all, Regent purchases hundreds (if not thousands) of bottles at a time. When one wine becomes unavailable in the quantities they need, they select another.

Edited by Travelcat2
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haha, all I meant about pouring wines, is that they are the ones offered each day.....no extra charge!

 

Often, when I am on, usually they just keep it in an ice bucket next to the table for the white, because others at my table order a red, it sits on the table. from my experience. Well really, I just think it is easier, as we always finish off the bottle. Or multiples. Usually 5-7 at the table.

 

Sorry if that caused confusion here. Of course they all need to be poured!!!

Edited by jhp
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Thank you to those on board who have confirmed that Mariner has not re-stocked with NZ Sauvingnon Blanc - despite the Head Sommelier's assurances.

However, his excuse behind the omission in the wine list was a good story, well told :rolleyes:

 

 

Just as with sommeliers in restaurants, if you describe the type of wine that you enjoy to the sommelier, they will try to meet your requirements. IMO, the sommelier is much better than any list.

 

In terms of the specific wine mentioned on this thread, it is possible that it is currently more difficult to obtain this wine. After all, Regent purchases hundreds (if not thousands) of bottles at a time. When one wine becomes unavailable in the quantities they need, they select another.

 

TC2,

During the Lisbon-Miami crossing we found it very difficult to obtain the wine we wanted from most of the 'Sommeliers', and usually had to be referred to the Head Sommelier. As referenced on some of the other threads the sommeliers and bar stewards on Mariner during our cruise appeared to be very thin on the ground and generally had no time or inclination to have an in-depth discussion on the wines available.

It would be very surprising if Regent were unable to source any of the various brands of NZ Sauvingnon Blanc. NZ exports somewhere around 130-150 million litres every year............perhaps the price is no longer within budget?? ;)

Edited by flossie009
eror
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flossie009: I wonder if the sommelier we had got off in Lisbon? In any case, there should not be such a difference in knowledge and service. Would love to know why service on the Mariner sounds so poor while the Voyager and Navigator do not seem to be experiencing problems. I'm going to post on current Voyager thread and ask if the NZ Sauvingnon Blanc is available there.

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Thank you to those on board who have confirmed that Mariner has not re-stocked with NZ Sauvingnon Blanc - despite the Head Sommelier's assurances.

However, his excuse behind the omission in the wine list was a good story, well told :rolleyes:

flossie009,

 

I may have missed the message, but I cannot find any post from someone on the current Miami to LA cruise reporting that a NZ Sauvignon Blanc was not restocked in Miami. The two posts saying that there was no NZ Sauvignon Blanc onboard were based on the list sent to them by Responder. That list was from the Lisbon to Miami cruise taken by you and Responder. The two posters are not on the Miami to LA cruise. NZ Sauvignon Blanc may not have been restocked in Miami but we do not know one way or the other.

 

If I have missed a post about NZ Sauvignon Blanc on the current cruise, I would appreciate your pointing me to the post.

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flossie009,

 

I may have missed the message, but I cannot find any post from someone on the current Miami to LA cruise reporting that a NZ Sauvignon Blanc was not restocked in Miami. The two posts saying that there was no NZ Sauvignon Blanc onboard were based on the list sent to them by Responder. That list was from the Lisbon to Miami cruise taken by you and Responder. The two posters are not on the Miami to LA cruise. NZ Sauvignon Blanc may not have been restocked in Miami but we do not know one way or the other.

 

If I have missed a post about NZ Sauvignon Blanc on the current cruise, I would appreciate your pointing me to the post.

 

Really good catch. Assumptions are apparently being made based upon nothing. If there were any port where I would expect almost everything to be restocked, it is Miami.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Really good catch. Assumptions are apparently being made based upon nothing. If there were any port where I would expect almost everything to be restocked, it is Miami.

 

 

................from other recent threads it appears my reading of the situation was correct.

Not only did Mariner not have our favourite wine on-board (the first time in our 5 years of sailing with RSSC), the Chief Sommelier was also economical with the truth as to Regent's intentions regarding the stocking of included wines.

It is very sad when senior staff on board have to cover up the obvious cut-backs in service being imposed by the bean-counters in Miami.

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Really good catch. Assumptions are apparently being made based upon nothing. If there were any port where I would expect almost everything to be restocked, it is Miami.

 

Travelcat, I agree with you, Miami should stock almost everything. Since Miami the Mariner has stopped in LA, the port with thousands of California wines all the way from "cheap" to very expensive. There is no reason not to be able to serve passengers a desirable wine, but they are serving very mediocre wines on this cruise. A couple of days ago, they offered jackaroo at lunch, when I asked for Perrier instead the server brought a Canadian chardonnay. I haven't seen the NZ sauvignon blanc. I have observed sommeliers and wine pourers "sell" the wine they were serving, "unfortunately other choices were not ordered."

 

With the exception of the wine, the LA to Papeete crossing has been very enjoyable, Food and service in the restaurants has been very good, our stewards in our suite are outstanding, the ship looks beautiful. The captain has worked hard to avoid stormy weather. Angie

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I'm Australian, love Australian Chardonnay and had never heard of Jackaroo Chardonnay till I read the wines on the list.

 

Any wine with such a gimmicky name is sure to be undrinkable.

We have some beautiful Chardonnays to pick from so I can't understand why they would buy this one. :confused:

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Jackaroo Chardonnay is paint stripper and I complained to sommelier Daniela last year about it, clearly to no avail. Australia produces over 1.2 billion litres of wine a year and Regent finds that:confused: Please don't judge all Australian wines by that measure; this battery acid is not sold locally and is purely for the unsuspecting export market. Shame on Regent for stocking it. We're on board the Mariner in a week - fortunately some of the other included wines show promise.

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone, we had a lovely day. I talked to the head sommelier this morning who stated that, "there is no "complimentary" NZ sauvignon blanc being served (on the Mariner)," Just as marinaro44 reported earlier regarding NZ wine on the Navigator. We are leaving at 5:30pm today to avoid squalls (sp.) but that is the time of the planned Thanksgiving Parade. Angie

Edited by msmillie
incorrect ship
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