Premium Wine and Cocktail List

[highplanesdrifters]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:24 PM, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Thank you that makes it all worthwhile.  I don't care what it costs or what it does to my reputation 😏by God I'm going to find out what free wines are offered at Silversea.

 

 

Your fine reputation will be intact! Try every bottle.  When we find what we like I take a picture of the bottle.  It helps staff find it.  We found that the "complimentary🤣 " pours were sometimes better in La Dame.  Pictures really helped for fetching those to other venues.  As for Chillean wines on board, they usually give me a headache.

[Lois R]

Guess my tastes are simpler......I love Pinot Noir and have always found the "complimentary" choices just fine🙂actually, there are times I just drink that every night with dinner, no matter what the red/white choices are.........but I did find the Vouvray Chenin Blanc really nice🙂

[RetiredandTravel]

We're far from wine snobs, our weekday wines are generally in the $8-15 range, but do like nicer wines with dinner on vacation.  It appears the Seabourn & SS comp wine lists are an improvement over Regent.  My last Regent cruise IMO the best Red on the comp list was Raymond "R" Cabernet, Raymond makes decent inexpensive wines but having a $9 supermarket wine as your best Cab is an embarrassment.   Yes the Regent wine pourers are not knowledgeable beyond opening the bottles  which they do well, usually nice people.  

 

We're just looking for some ok whites for lunch and my wife's cocktail, I go with Champagne (maybe a beer) on vacation and that looks good.   Hopefully we'll find some acceptable Reds off the comp list for dinner and buy the rest.

 

 

 

 

[broker1217]

Well--this is certainly food for thought. We just booked our first SS cruise and were hoping for better wine selection.

It seems it is always a secretive process regarding wine on cruises!

Upcharge for Cloudy Bay--seriously? Do they not have a decent included Sancerre? Or even a decent Sancerre with an uncharge.

 

 

[cruiseej]

8 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

Upcharge for Cloudy Bay--seriously?

 

Cloudy Bay is a roughly $30 retail wine in the US; that's above the price point for included wines on SS. (On Seabourn, we often have its poorer cousin, Oyster Bay!)

[lincslady]

I think Cloudy Bay is at least that price in the UK, and therefore not likely to be included on any cruise wine list.   Oyster Bay is normally on the Seabourn included list.  That and Villa Maria are probably the nicest Sauv. blancs in that price range, and they are more expensive than the Chilean ones and many of the other included wines.  Cloudy Bay had a sudden price hike a few years ago; not sure why.

[NeilP57]

On my one week Spirit cruise last month, there was no included NZ Sauvignon Blanc available after the first night and according to reports none available either the following week. 
 

I did find the included wine offering disappointing. It was okay but nothing special. My wife was particularly disappointed that her tipple of choice (NZ SB) was unavailable. 

[david63]

I am not sure what it is about Cloudy Bay - other than Gordon Ramsey first promoted it so it is ridiculously overpriced. Depending on vintage it range from "not bad" to OK.

 

In New Zealand it is almost impossible to find on any restaurant wine list and if it is there (for tourists as locals will not touch it) they will steer you away from it for something better at half the price, and there are plenty of them.

[highplanesdrifters]

8 hours ago, david63 said:

I am not sure what it is about Cloudy Bay - other than Gordon Ramsey first promoted it so it is ridiculously overpriced. Depending on vintage it range from "not bad" to OK.

 

In New Zealand it is almost impossible to find on any restaurant wine list and if it is there (for tourists as locals will not touch it) they will steer you away from it for something better at half the price, and there are plenty of them.

I hear ya.  It seems that so many of the NZSBs we get here in the states are so grassy it feels like you're chewing the cud.

[DCCruiser57]

Here's the premium wine list from the 12/21 Whisper and WC.

Whisper Connoisseur Wine List.pdf

[rkacruiser]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:21 PM, lincslady said:

Villa Maria are probably the nicest Sauv. blancs in that price range, and they are more expensive than the Chilean one

 

Villa Maria is my favorite Sauvignon Blanc and I have had more than one bartender and wine steward tell me that it's one of the best, if not the best, in that price range.  Used to be easy to find on a ship, in recent years, other New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are available.  I wonder why.   Change in distributors?  Change in pricing/profit for the cruise lines?

 

On 7/16/2022 at 12:14 PM, highplanesdrifters said:

It seems that so many of the NZSBs we get here in the states are so grassy it feels like you're chewing the cud.

 

Not Villa Maria.  

[TER777]

While I couldn’t find an included wine list, I did notice in the Arts Cafe a line up of open bottles. Good source of info.