Any decent white wines on the Classic Package?

[sunsetme]

Thinking of Pinot Gris types.

[CardowMD]

I got a French dry rose at lunch most days, don’t think I saw Pino Grigio on Classic. it was on the Elite HH menu, but was horrible.

[sunsetme]

yes I am trying to avoid the swill. I would love a good Rose

[mrgabriel]

Wine selections vary from ship to ship.

 

We were on Silhouette last month and I drank a lot of Pinot Grigio. All absolutely fine. One day I had a Sauvignon Blanc that was also fine. Neither made me screw up my face when I drank them.

 

I ordered off the Premium menu when we were in Tuscan and Murano and both times had a nice unoaked French Chardonnay. It was worth the upcharge to me. (I asked for a nice Chablis but what they had was about $145 a bottle so I passed 😆)

 

Never seen a Pinot Gris on a ship but that's not to say that it's never offered. I just think it would be a higher price point than what comes with the Classic package. 

[bikerunner]

They use to have elk cove pinot Grus I know before shutdown on ships.  Not sure anymore since I drink pinot noir mostly now.  Easiest is find a sommelier and talk to them instead of asking bartenders or the menus. Like others said wine varies by ship it seems, in general supply chain still screwed up 

[sunsetme]

you would think with all the drink packages they would have some decent wines

[markeb]

Define decent?

 

Looking at Equinox MDR in the app. There's a $9/bottle retail Pinot Grigio from Italy, a $7/bottle retail CK Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc, and a ~$10-11/bottle retail Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. All listed at $9/glass in the app. Haven't had any of them and they're all at price points where there are no reviews. They all look inoffensive...

[NMTraveller]

1 minute ago, markeb said:

Define decent?

 

Whispering Angel.

[markeb]

1 minute ago, NMTraveller said:

Whispering Angel.

 

Yeah. There are a LOT of Provence rosé wines on the classic package...

[NMTraveller]

3 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Yeah. There are a LOT of Provence rosé wines on the classic package...

I just recall the reaction from the guy watching over the stage in the theater when I was trying a white.  "It can't be that bad..."  YMMV 

Edited May 26, 2023 by NMTraveller

[neverlaysup]

Anything available on the Classic package would be no more than any $10 dollar bottle that you can buy at home. There's always that one or two great finds in this price point so you may need to taste test every one to see which one is palatable.

[NMTraveller]

I would recommend the Prosecco in Classic.  But that is about it.

Edited May 26, 2023 by NMTraveller

[markeb]

13 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I just recall the reaction from the guy watching over the stage in the theater when I was trying a white.  "It can't be that bad..."  YMMV 

 

Celebrity has actually won Wine Spectator awards for apparently 10 years straight, including 15 in 2022 (2023 will presumably be announced in July). I have to assume that's on the strength of their bottle list, which at least was pretty impressive. I'm generally not inclined to pile onto food threads (and haven't cruised since last August), but I don't know about the current wine experience. My normal Wine Spectator reaction is that anything Robert Parker would give 100 points to is something I know I won't like, but he just did it to one of my favorite wineries (and I have three bottles from the wine club; they sold out of stock in three days so that's my wine), which gives me pause on Wine Spectator awards, but...

 

I don't envy a cruise line trying to manage a by the glass wine menu. A lot of it is going to get drunk outside the dining room, and you need wines for that purpose. Unfortunately, I don't know how you can curate your by the glass offerings to your food menu since unlike a Michelin restaurant, the menu changes every night. Well away from the OPs question!

 

17 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I would recommend the Prosecco in Classic.  But that is about it.

 

It is kind of hard to screw up Prosecco. Although there is Prosecco and then there's really good Prosecco...

[markeb]

21 minutes ago, neverlaysup said:

Anything available on the Classic package would be no more than any $10 dollar bottle that you can buy at home. There's always that one or two great finds in this price point so you may need to taste test every one to see which one is palatable.

 

Which fortunately on a package is no harm no foul! 

[NMTraveller]

29 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Celebrity has actually won Wine Spectator awards for apparently 10 years straight, including 15 in 2022 (2023 will presumably be announced in July). I have to assume that's on the strength of their bottle list, which at least was pretty impressive. I'm generally not inclined to pile onto food threads (and haven't cruised since last August), but I don't know about the current wine experience. My normal Wine Spectator reaction is that anything Robert Parker would give 100 points to is something I know I won't like, but he just did it to one of my favorite wineries (and I have three bottles from the wine club; they sold out of stock in three days so that's my wine), which gives me pause on Wine Spectator awards, but...

 

I don't envy a cruise line trying to manage a by the glass wine menu. A lot of it is going to get drunk outside the dining room, and you need wines for that purpose. Unfortunately, I don't know how you can curate your by the glass offerings to your food menu since unlike a Michelin restaurant, the menu changes every night. Well away from the OPs question!

 

 

It is kind of hard to screw up Prosecco. Although there is Prosecco and then there's really good Prosecco...

They may have won Wine Spectator awards,  but there is no way that they won it for wines on the Classic Package.  Oohh gross.

 

If you are looking for value Princess has better value where you can buy $25 bottles for $35 on their multiple bottle packages (been a while since I sailed but ...).  That is where I discovered Whispering Angel.

 

Agree with you on the Prosecco.  IMHO about the only palatable white wine on classic.

Edited May 26, 2023 by NMTraveller

[BunnyLebowski]

On our last Celebrity cruise, no we had a hard time finding a good wine by the glass at any price. I’m fairly laid back and usually am fine with just about anything except the most inexpensive swill, but still I didn’t enjoy a single glass of the pinot grigio I was offered all trip. 
 

Had to hit cellar masters every night before dinner where the sommelier would pour us something nice for an additional $10/glass upcharge on top our our drink package. It was a hassle, we couldn’t easily get a refill during dinner and it did not feel very “modern luxury”. 

 

If you’re knowledgeable about wine and fairly discerning, you’ll want to skip the beverage packages right now and just buy the bottles you’ll like. Sadly that’s where we are at this point, despite being able to find plenty of nice wines by the glass prior to 2023.

[Cruisegirl6]

I found all the wines on the premium package to be not good as well.

[CeleryCruiser]

35 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

I found all the wines on the premium package to be not good as well.

We noticed the same last summer cruise in MED they serve only mid-priced and hardly any quality wines even in the premium package . We decided to go on with "non alc.package" and buy wines separately by full bottle on our next cruise.

[Nado44]

The Californian J Pinot Gris was a drinkable offering on the Edge in recent weeks.

 

I'm also a fan of the Whispering Angel Provence rose.

[DaKahuna]

 My wife  enjoyed both the Corete Glara Pinot Grigio and the CK Mondavi Moscato, both on the classic package, on our last cruise. However, she primarily drank Selbach and Castello Del Poggio Moscoto which I am pretty sure are on the Premium package and not the classic.  

 

We are simple folks and pretty much told the sommelier what we liked and let her pick the specific brand, e.g. Moscoto or Pinot Noir (me!).

 

 

 

[39august]

I have read many comments about Whispering Angel. Is that a dry or sweet rose?

[markeb]

47 minutes ago, 39august said:

I have read many comments about Whispering Angel. Is that a dry or sweet rose?

 

I don't know that I've ever had Whispering Angel, but it's described almost as the exemplar of a dry, light colored, Provence rosé. Those tend to be bone dry, and delicious. I don't think I've ever had a sweet French rosé (they apparently exist). That's mostly a US thing...

[DesertRat46]

On our recent Shiloutte TA there was not a drinkable Chardonnay on the Classic package. Premium wasn't much better, but a couple were decent. DW doesn't care for Sav Blanc or Pinot Gris types.