Good red wine suggestions currently available.

[sunlover33]

I have been reading about the shortages of some wines from the wine list recently. I love a good full bodied red with dinner. Any recommendations from recent cruisers of any decent full bodied reds currently available on premium package, or to buy by the bottle? We are in a suite so will be dining in Luminae if that makes any difference to the selection available. 

Edited May 21, 2022 by sunlover33

[canderson]

The Celebrity/Grgich (Opulence?) label red was pretty good if looking for by the glass.  

[jelayne]

What is available can change daily. On a recent B2B  the 1st leg the ship had a supply of 4 bottles of Caymus which ran out.  Next cruise they received 1 bottle.  No DeCoy on 1st cruise, plenty on the 2nd leg. It is very hit and miss.  

[cruisestitch]

When is your cruise? Which ship?

[sunlover33]

July - Reflection 

[NutsAboutGolf]

X just changed their policy now each pax can carry on TWO bottles of wine so if you're a couple you can bring 4.  While there is a $25/bottle corkage fee to use in the dining room, you can still get much higher quality wine far cheaper.  On the Solstice in 2019 I brought a bottle with me, when the waiter came by I put a $5 on the table and asked if I give this to you will you forget to add the corkage fee?  He said no problem, took the $5 and never charged us.

[jelayne]

The new policy says no corkage fee if you have the Classic or Premium beverage package.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

The new policy says no corkage fee if you have the Classic or Premium beverage package.

 

Thanks for sharing and wow!  I have been pitching that they should do that for a while.

[Whinenowine]

Yes I've toyed with this before but never actually done it. On the Edge last month many of the wines I wanted were out of stock (but still on the wine list handed to me when we sat down).  We're on the the Millie in August and will likely bring a few bottles with us to supplement their good cocktails menu. Figure just for the 2 nights at the Tuscan Grill. Love BYO in my daily life, so hoping it'll go smoothly onboard too.

 

[George C]

Love this new rule allowing two bottles per person, will definitely bring on 4 bottles. Only decent wine in past covered by drink package is decoy, on one of our cruises Luminae ran out of decoy so they gave us caymus 😁😁

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

I have been reading about the shortages of some wines from the wine list recently. I love a good full bodied red with dinner. Any recommendations from recent cruisers of any decent full bodied reds currently available on premium package, or to buy by the bottle? We are in a suite so will be dining in Luminae if that makes any difference to the selection available. 

 

Grgich (@canderson) and Caymus (my favorite) produce consistently excellent full bodied reds and are featured on Celebrity ships. 

 

Wine List, Solstice MDR, Dec 2019

 

Enjoying 2017 Caymus Cabernet (regular bottling) in Solstice MDR, Dec 2019

 

Enjoying 2015 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet at Caymus Vineyards, Sep 2019

[maggie.1008]

I was told last week on the Millennium that Celebrity has not renewed the contract with the Wagner wines. Not sure if the Wagner group have enough supply. Maybe they were effected by the fires last year. 
I was in Napa last May and many wineries were effected.

 I was in Blu last week and no Caymus or Mer so lie 

[mahdnc]

54 minutes ago, maggie.1008 said:

I was told last week on the Millennium that Celebrity has not renewed the contract with the Wagner wines. Not sure if the Wagner group have enough supply. Maybe they were effected by the fires last year. 
I was in Napa last May and many wineries were effected.

 I was in Blu last week and no Caymus or Mer so lie 

 

Interesting.  My understanding is that the Glass Fire in Sep 2020 that ravaged parts of Sonoma and Napa counties did not come down far south enough to affect Caymus's winery or vineyards.  Coincidently, the 2020 Cabernets are now being sold.  I noticed that the 2020 Special Selection Cabernet is also for sale which is a good sign because in poor vintage years, Caymus has skipped producing any if they felt that they didn't have grapes that were worthy of the lofty Special Selection label.

 

So I imagine that the contract did not get renewed for other reasons. 

[DaKahuna]

I enjoyed the Later Cake Primitivo as well as the Chateau Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon. 
 

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I enjoyed the Later Cake Primitivo as well as the Chateau Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon. 
 

 

Good point.  Although I am partial to Caymus, there are plenty of good reds (and other wines) from all over the world on Celebrity's wine list to choose from!

[canderson]

If you can still score the Michele Ciaro Barolo aboard, it's drinking very nicely.

[mahdnc]

20 minutes ago, canderson said:

If you can still score the Michele Ciaro Barolo aboard, it's drinking very nicely.

 

[rachiem]

We are currently on the Edge. No Decoy or Conundrum 😩

As suggested above though, they offered Chateau Souverain, which was good. 

 

[Whinenowine]

Also, if the pricing for that Tignanello is correct, that's almost retail!  Not to mention I believe Premium Bev package comes with 20% off bottles (Is that still correct??).  Agree on the Chiarlo barbaresco too.

[mahdnc]

13 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Also, if the pricing for that Tignanello is correct, that's almost retail!  Not to mention I believe Premium Bev package comes with 20% off bottles (Is that still correct??).  Agree on the Chiarlo barbaresco too.

 

I took that photo of Solstice's wine list during our Dec 2019 - Jan 2020 New Zealand holiday cruise.