Well, I think SHARE is Great

[shredie]

i might too if they have some good mashed potatoes and gravy.

 

Actually, Renaut does Savoyare food, from Haute-Savoie in France, think Alps and ski resorts. It's not what we think of as French cuisine or what you might find at some high-class Paris diner like Tour D'Argent. The food is rich with potatoes and cheese and ham and all kinds of comforty stuff. (My SIL lives in Savoie and I have eaten lots of Savoyarde food.) I think you'd like it. Tartiflette is kind of heaven in a dish.

This is assuming Renaut will do Savoyarde on Princess, but I guess that remains to be seen. In any case, if you don't like it, don't think it looks appetizing, don't want to eat it a second (or third) time, I will not stamp my feet and hold my breath until you DO WHAT I SAY or I'm telling the grownups.

Edited November 3, 2016 by shredie

[JimmyVWine]

Since the Les Clans Rose down on the lower left is somewhat segregated from the others, I suspect that it might be a still wine. Does anybody know it?

Yes, it is a still Rose, not a Sparkling Rose. It is funny how restaurants get so flummoxed as to where to place Roses on the list. Sometimes they appear with the Whites, sometimes the Reds, sometimes on their own, and I guess now, sometimes with the Sparkling wines. Given how popular fine Rose has become, you'd think it would garner more respect.

 

With respect to this particular bottle, it comes from the house that brings us Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous Rose that has taken the country by storm. (And despite its clear move into the "trendy" category, Whispering Angel is an excellent Rose. But I do find myself having to defend my selection as the popularity tends to cause eye rolls every now and then. But like Cristal Champagne, sometimes something can be both trendy and very good.) The Les Clans is about two levels up in terms of price. (It goes "Whispering Angel", "Rock Angel" and then "Les Clans". And you can go up even higher with this producer, but paying $70+ for a Rose is nuts if you ask me.) The wine is predominantly Grenache. At retail you would expect to pay between $57-$65 for this, so the price on the wine list is ridunkulous (in the good way). If $50+ is beyond your comfort level with Roses, I get it. If not, then this is where you want to land.

 

Whites

 

On our first visit my wife was tempted by the P-M. I encouraged her to go for it, but she had more confidence in the P&H Chardonnay. That was a winner for her. We drank half the bottle on the first visit and polished the rest off on our second visit. We also bought a bottle of Flowers Chardonnay on our second visit and I was easily able to order a meal that worked with white wines.

 

I don't know if anybody is familiar with the Donnafugata Lighea. We had it with our Chef's Table meal on our last cruise in April. It is darned good. I found it to be typical, of Italian whites--a fair amount of fruit and lots of acid. Definitely not for lovers of heavily oaked California Chardonnays.

 

Your decision-making mirrors mine. I would be tempted to go for the Puligny-Montrachet, but with a Patz & Hall staring at me for less than half the price, that is where I would go. I don't see the Flowers on the list. Did you order it at Share? In any event, after Greg LaFollette left as winemaker, I found that the quality decreased and this producer fell off of my radar screen. I went to a private tasting of Flowers wines last year and my concerns were reinforced. As for the Donnafugata, they make many good to very good wines at a very fair price point. But I agree that this style of White is not for everyone, especially the big, buttery Chardonnay crowd.

 

Reds:

 

This might be the section of the list where vintage dates would be helpful. ...

 

There is mistake on this list. Do the wine geeks see it?

 

As you noted earlier, these prices are really fair. I would be tempted to buy every bottle of the Grange, ask them not to open the bottles, and then re-sell them at auction to pay for my cruise. Retail for this wine easily exceeds $600 and is probably closer to $750.

 

As for the mistake, the most obvious one that I saw was that they have the first Barolo (Lot 431) listed as Marchesi di Cannubi when in fact the producer is Marchesi di Barolo, with "Cannubi" being the designation of this particular wine. Still, they did a very good job with this list, with the exception of the missing vintages.

Edited November 3, 2016 by JimmyVWine

[land lover]

Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

 

Yes, two new restaurants on Majestic. How soon will they post a menu online so the CC crowd can bash the offerings and rage about how bad it must be?

 

Actually I have booked the Majestic, for June 18,2017 on it's last cruise before if will become a chartered Chinese Vessel...so don't expect menus to show up here because they will have no relevance as the ship will never be seen again............................................

............................................................................at least to reserve in the U.S.

Edited November 3, 2016 by land lover

[XBGuy]

Yes, it is a still Rose, not a Sparkling Rose. It is funny how restaurants get so flummoxed as to where to place Roses on the list. Sometimes they appear with the Whites, sometimes the Reds, sometimes on their own, and I guess now, sometimes with the Sparkling wines. Given how popular fine Rose has become, you'd think it would garner more respect.

 

With respect to this particular bottle, it comes from the house that brings us Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous Rose that has taken the country by storm. (And despite its clear move into the "trendy" category, Whispering Angel is an excellent Rose. But I do find myself having to defend my selection as the popularity tends to cause eye rolls every now and then. But like Cristal Champagne, sometimes something can be both trendy and very good.) The Les Clans is about two levels up in terms of price. (It goes "Whispering Angel", "Rock Angel" and then "Les Clans". And you can go up even higher with this producer, but paying $70+ for a Rose is nuts if you ask me.) The wine is predominantly Grenache. At retail you would expect to pay between $57-$65 for this, so the price on the wine list is ridunkulous (in the good way). If $50+ is beyond your comfort level with Roses, I get it. If not, then this is where you want to land.

 

 

Your decision-making mirrors mine. I would be tempted to go for the Puligny-Montrachet, but with a Patz & Hall staring at me for less than half the price, that is where I would go. I don't see the Flowers on the list. Did you order it at Share? In any event, after Greg LaFollette left as winemaker, I found that the quality decreased and this producer fell off of my radar screen. I went to a private tasting of Flowers wines last year and my concerns were reinforced. As for the Donnafugata, they make many good to very good wines at a very fair price point. But I agree that this style of White is not for everyone, especially the big, buttery Chardonnay crowd.

 

 

 

As you noted earlier, these prices are really fair. I would be tempted to buy every bottle of the Grange, ask them not to open the bottles, and then re-sell them at auction to pay for my cruise. Retail for this wine easily exceeds $600 and is probably closer to $750.

 

As for the mistake, the most obvious one that I saw was that they have the first Barolo (Lot 431) listed as Marchesi di Cannubi when in fact the producer is Marchesi di Barolo, with "Cannubi" being the designation of this particular wine. Still, they did a very good job with this list, with the exception of the missing vintages.

 

Outstanding comments, JVW. Thank you, very much.

 

I confess to being a California wine bigot. I'm not really that sharp on old world wines. However, if it is still on the list the next time, I would like to try the RdD. There is no denying that Spanish wines represent tremendous value.

 

We brought the Flowers on board. It is one of Mrs. XBGuys favorite. BTW, my WOTW was this:

 

 

We had this one at Crown Grill one evening. Mrs. XBGuy ordered a white off their list. She was able to take about half that bottle back to the cabin. No such luck for me. :D

 

Your catch on the Barolo was interesting. Again, my knowledge of old world wines is pretty lame. So, I learned something.

 

I gave the server a raft because the Lytton Springs was characterized as a "Zinfandel." To me if you say that on a winelist, you are saying that it is a varietal bottling which the Lytton Springs definitely is not. We engaged the headwaiter as he walked by, and he agreed with me. A nit, I know.

 

I had no idea that the Grange was that spendy. Wow. That is way out of my tax bracket--Social Security pensioner.

 

When we first started cruising on Princess a few years ago, Ornellaia could be had for $140. I could afford it, then but I'm not tempted at $240. The Tig satisfied my once-a-year Super Tuscan itch.

 

Thanks for your comments.

[dtb55]

Actually, Renaut does Savoyare food, from Haute-Savoie in France, think Alps and ski resorts. It's not what we think of as French cuisine or what you might find at some high-class Paris diner like Tour D'Argent. The food is rich with potatoes and cheese and ham and all kinds of comforty stuff. (My SIL lives in Savoie and I have eaten lots of Savoyarde food.) I think you'd like it. Tartiflette is kind of heaven in a dish.

This is assuming Renaut will do Savoyarde on Princess, but I guess that remains to be seen. In any case, if you don't like it, don't think it looks appetizing, don't want to eat it a second (or third) time, I will not stamp my feet and hold my breath until you DO WHAT I SAY or I'm telling the grownups.

 

 

 

Hey, we agree on something - tartiflette is heaven in a dish.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[OzKiwiJJ]

I hear what you're saying, and I think Princess REALLY BUNGLED a great opportunity.

 

First, the decision to eliminate some of the "comfort items" on the MDR dinner menu to make room for the Curtis Stone items angered some who looked forward to those items they could fall back on since they were always on the menu. Stone's items took them away.

 

...

 

Nightly, as the menus change, ONE Curtis Stone dish could have been "Featured" as one of the five rotating main entree choices.

 

 

On our recent Sun cruise there was one Curtis Stone dish per night, on a rotational basis. The "dish of the day" was featured at the bottom of the mains section of the menu. A couple of the "comfort items", including the salmon, had been re-instated on the menu. I think Princess is listening to our feedback.

[shredie]

Hey, we agree on something - tartiflette is heaven in a dish.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

No doubt! Probably clogs arteries just looking at it, but it is soooooo good. :D

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, it is a still Rose, not a Sparkling Rose. It is funny how restaurants get so flummoxed as to where to place Roses on the list. Sometimes they appear with the Whites, sometimes the Reds, sometimes on their own, and I guess now, sometimes with the Sparkling wines. Given how popular fine Rose has become, you'd think it would garner more respect.

 

With respect to this particular bottle, it comes from the house that brings us Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous Rose that has taken the country by storm. (And despite its clear move into the "trendy" category, Whispering Angel is an excellent Rose. But I do find myself having to defend my selection as the popularity tends to cause eye rolls every now and then. But like Cristal Champagne, sometimes something can be both trendy and very good.) The Les Clans is about two levels up in terms of price. (It goes "Whispering Angel", "Rock Angel" and then "Les Clans". And you can go up even higher with this producer, but paying $70+ for a Rose is nuts if you ask me.) The wine is predominantly Grenache. At retail you would expect to pay between $57-$65 for this, so the price on the wine list is ridunkulous (in the good way). If $50+ is beyond your comfort level with Roses, I get it. If not, then this is where you want to land.

 

 

Your decision-making mirrors mine. I would be tempted to go for the Puligny-Montrachet, but with a Patz & Hall staring at me for less than half the price, that is where I would go. I don't see the Flowers on the list. Did you order it at Share? In any event, after Greg LaFollette left as winemaker, I found that the quality decreased and this producer fell off of my radar screen. I went to a private tasting of Flowers wines last year and my concerns were reinforced. As for the Donnafugata, they make many good to very good wines at a very fair price point. But I agree that this style of White is not for everyone, especially the big, buttery Chardonnay crowd.

 

 

 

As you noted earlier, these prices are really fair. I would be tempted to buy every bottle of the Grange, ask them not to open the bottles, and then re-sell them at auction to pay for my cruise. Retail for this wine easily exceeds $600 and is probably closer to $750.

 

As for the mistake, the most obvious one that I saw was that they have the first Barolo (Lot 431) listed as Marchesi di Cannubi when in fact the producer is Marchesi di Barolo, with "Cannubi" being the designation of this particular wine. Still, they did a very good job with this list, with the exception of the missing vintages.

 

Jimmy, do you have any formal wine education?

[JimmyVWine]

BTW, my WOTW was this:

 

 

We had this one at Crown Grill one evening.

 

I can see why. Myriad is one of my favorites. I went to a private tasting in NY hosted by Mike Smith last Spring. He and his wife pulled out all the stops and poured pretty much every wine in his portfolio. Mostly Cabs but the Syrahs had their own table and we loved the Sugarloaf. As the tasting ended, Mike handed me a bottle that he didn't want to take back to California. Great stuff. If you like the Myriad Cabs, look into Quivet, 12C, and Scarlett. All are made by Mike Smith (and all are a hair cheaper than Myriad). Mike is pretty much the "it" winemaker of the moment. I am so happy that I got in on the ground floor of his ventures.

 

As for the Lytton Springs, the wine needs 75+% of a grape to be classified as a varietal. The Lytton Springs is probably close. But I suppose once a ship is in International waters, the rules don't apply. ;)

Edited November 4, 2016 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

Jimmy, do you have any formal wine education?

 

Some, but not enough to sit for the Court of Masters Sommelier exam. I have friends who have (and passed) and it is crazy. I took the Windows on the World class as well as numerous more specific classes and seminars. Once you go down this path, the best education is to read, read, read and taste, taste taste (but not necessarily in that order). At various times in my life I have served (part time, and often unpaid) as a regional restaurant critic for a now-defunct "gourmet" magazine, a wine reviewer/moderator of a now-defunct wine website, as a cookbook editor, a wine list consultant and in sales for a wine distributor specializing in micro-production wines. Along the way I have made many friends in the industry and through those connections have been tipped off to many worthy startup ventures and tasting opportunities. The more you immerse yourself in the world of wine, the more you realize that it is an industry driven by talented people. Once you become familiar with those people, you always seem to be on the right path. Very much like the way people think about "coaching trees" in sports. You have the "Dean Smith coaching tree" or the "Bill Walsh coaching tree" or the "Bill Parcells coaching tree". Winemakers (and assistant winemakers) are very much the same way. Get to know some of the "alpha winemakers" in the world and you will rarely go wrong. I am fortunate enough to have made friends with lots of folks in the wine world and that results in lots of opportunities to taste, taste, taste.

[Cruise Junky]

Some, but not enough to sit for the Court of Masters Sommelier exam. I have friends who have (and passed) and it is crazy. I took the Windows on the World class as well as numerous more specific classes and seminars. Once you go down this path, the best education is to read, read, read and taste, taste taste (but not necessarily in that order). At various times in my life I have served (part time, and often unpaid) as a regional restaurant critic for a now-defunct "gourmet" magazine, a wine reviewer/moderator of a now-defunct wine website, as a cookbook editor, a wine list consultant and in sales for a wine distributor specializing in micro-production wines. Along the way I have made many friends in the industry and through those connections have been tipped off to many worthy startup ventures and tasting opportunities. The more you immerse yourself in the world of wine, the more you realize that it is an industry driven by talented people. Once you become familiar with those people, you always seem to be on the right path. Very much like the way people think about "coaching trees" in sports. You have the "Dean Smith coaching tree" or the "Bill Walsh coaching tree" or the "Bill Parcells coaching tree". Winemakers (and assistant winemakers) are very much the same way. Get to know some of the "alpha winemakers" in the world and you will rarely go wrong. I am fortunate enough to have made friends with lots of folks in the wine world and that results in lots of opportunities to taste, taste, taste.

 

Excellent advice of taste, taste, taste :). I'm enrolled in WSET 3 and wondered if you'd been through it.

[abbydancer2003]

One of my friends ate at Share on the Ruby last night. She thought it was great and liked the new menu. She sent me a picture of it. It looks better than the old menu to me, although a few things are the same.

[brian1]

Actually, Renaut does Savoyare food, from Haute-Savoie in France, think Alps and ski resorts. It's not what we think of as French cuisine or what you might find at some high-class Paris diner like Tour D'Argent. The food is rich with potatoes and cheese and ham and all kinds of comforty stuff. (My SIL lives in Savoie and I have eaten lots of Savoyarde food.) I think you'd like it. Tartiflette is kind of heaven in a dish.

This is assuming Renaut will do Savoyarde on Princess, but I guess that remains to be seen. In any case, if you don't like it, don't think it looks appetizing, don't want to eat it a second (or third) time, I will not stamp my feet and hold my breath until you DO WHAT I SAY or I'm telling the grownups.

Hi,that looks like English home cooking.We call that meat and potato pie.The oh cooked a chicken and leak pie a couple of days ago,better than CS pot pie we had on the Coral mdr a while ago,but still home cooking,looks and tastes ok but not worth $39 each,cheers,Brian.ps I know you are only guessing this will be his Quisine on Princess.

[XBGuy]

I can see why. Myriad is one of my favorites. I went to a private tasting in NY hosted by Mike Smith last Spring. He and his wife pulled out all the stops and poured pretty much every wine in his portfolio. Mostly Cabs but the Syrahs had their own table and we loved the Sugarloaf. As the tasting ended, Mike handed me a bottle that he didn't want to take back to California. Great stuff. If you like the Myriad Cabs, look into Quivet, 12C, and Scarlett. All are made by Mike Smith (and all are a hair cheaper than Myriad). Mike is pretty much the "it" winemaker of the moment. I am so happy that I got in on the ground floor of his ventures.

 

As for the Lytton Springs, the wine needs 75+% of a grape to be classified as a varietal. The Lytton Springs is probably close. But I suppose once a ship is in International waters, the rules don't apply. ;)

 

I was involved in an e-mail exchange with Mike Smith about last spring, and as he signed off, he urged me to visit them.

 

"Funny thing," I responded. "I'm going to be in that area the week of XXXX. [i really don't remember the date.] Would you be available?"

 

He had to beg off because he was going to be in New York. :)

 

I'd never had the Sugarloaf Mountain Syrah before last week. It seems that the Las Madras bottlings get more attention, but, as I said, I was blown away.

 

I am on both the Myriad (obviously) and Quivet lists. This week I received CS deliveries from both. I am currently considering the latest solicitation from Ancillary. I know I will go for some Chardonnay. (There is no downside to keeping Mrs XBGuy stocked up in Chardonnay.) I'm not much of a PN fan, but a very knowledgeable friend has suggested that I go for the RRV PN bottling.

 

Your "international waters" comment is great. I guess they can't bring out the wine list until the casino opens.

 

The 2012 Lytton Springs bottling has a 70% Zin content. I was in a goofy mood, that evening, and just wanted to give the server a hard time. He was OK with it. We're still friends.

 

Some, but not enough to sit for the Court of Masters Sommelier exam. I have friends who have (and passed) and it is crazy. I took the Windows on the World class as well as numerous more specific classes and seminars. Once you go down this path, the best education is to read, read, read and taste, taste taste (but not necessarily in that order). At various times in my life I have served (part time, and often unpaid) as a regional restaurant critic for a now-defunct "gourmet" magazine, a wine reviewer/moderator of a now-defunct wine website, as a cookbook editor, a wine list consultant and in sales for a wine distributor specializing in micro-production wines. Along the way I have made many friends in the industry and through those connections have been tipped off to many worthy startup ventures and tasting opportunities. The more you immerse yourself in the world of wine, the more you realize that it is an industry driven by talented people. Once you become familiar with those people, you always seem to be on the right path. Very much like the way people think about "coaching trees" in sports. You have the "Dean Smith coaching tree" or the "Bill Walsh coaching tree" or the "Bill Parcells coaching tree". Winemakers (and assistant winemakers) are very much the same way. Get to know some of the "alpha winemakers" in the world and you will rarely go wrong. I am fortunate enough to have made friends with lots of folks in the wine world and that results in lots of opportunities to taste, taste, taste.

 

This is very interesting. Thanks for the brief Bio.

[XBGuy]

One of my friends ate at Share on the Ruby last night. She thought it was great and liked the new menu. She sent me a picture of it. It looks better than the old menu to me, although a few things are the same.

 

This is very interesting Abby. I hope your friend can provide us with a report when she returns.

[land lover]

[land lover]

[land lover]

[land lover]

[land lover]

These are the photos I took of some of our meal. As XBGuy said light was low and since we were eating with another couple, I didn't want to make our meal a BIG FLASH photo take.....so quality is not the best, but u get the picture.

Edited November 4, 2016 by land lover

[land lover]

[shredie]

Those are the same dishes in that link I provided, but from a different view. I guess you didn't order the beet dish?

[land lover]

Actually I found the link you posted, far more appetizing than what we received on Ruby...except for dessert. No to the beets...On my lobster entree were 2 pieces of Endive my taste buds enjoyed their favor more than the poached lobster.

 

In Contrast I'll post some photos from Salty Dog and Crown Grill same sailing.

Edited November 4, 2016 by land lover

[land lover]

Edited November 4, 2016 by land lover

[land lover]