drwilliams

Because the difference is not measurable. In short, they do not work.

GGLwannabe

That rather depends on what wine you measure the difference with: with a robust wine, that still has ageing potential, I agree there is little difference; however for a wine that is approaching the end of it's drinkable life, I find a vacuvin makes a big difference.

As an example, I know from experience (last year) that half a bottle of a delicious '88 claret left over from the previous evening, when it was superb, was very disappointing 24 hours later after the bottle had been left overnight with just the cork reinserted. Repeating with the same wine and a vacuvin (used energetically to remove as much oxygen as possible) a few days later resulted in the second half of the bottle being almost as good as the first half.

Using a vacuvin certainly can't do any harm, and having to evacuate perhaps a dozen bottles at the end of the evening is not such a great chore, and it should ensure that all wines left overnight are good to drink the following day.

haasha

I think people with manners should leave just empty bottles behind. Problem solved.

drwilliams

It sure does no damage, but here is a good link:

https://johnonwine.com/2009/12/17/fr...ends-vacu-vin/

GGLwannabe

I followed the link, and read many of the follow-up posts. All very interesting stuff, but by no means unanimous. I'm with the poster Winemaker on this issue.

ttama

I had the rose in the FLounge last week and the brut NV on the plane, and found both to be very drinkable. I'm no novice when it comes to drinking champagne. But personal taste varies enormously.

KARFA

Fair enough - my post was a bit blunt!

I am certainly no expert. Howeve, I do not think the current Henriot is very good though, and certainly not as good as the various Tattingers that were there before. I am not sure whether I would say it was better or worse than Castleneau.

orbitmic

While Henriot is by no means my favourite Champagne, I personally find it much better than the Castelnau.

greg5

Indeed, the Rosé is MUCH better than the Castelnau Rosé. The Mrs. liked the Henriot quite a bit, but after a sniff of the Castlenau, turned it away. Of course, I'm comparing an on the ground Henriot in a proper glass to the Castelnau in CW.


BTW, I noticed that the champagnes had changed in F (at least SEA-LHR). There was a vintage Duval-LeRoy, and the Rosé was a Jaquart IIRC.

flatlander

That is also my view. Given the quantities of Champagne quaffed in the LHR lounges by passengers giving low revenue to BA (alco-leeches like me ) it has to be selected for a fairly low price, and at that price the Henriot is reasonable.

stimpy

It does take a fair amount of spend to get into the GF. The average Gold member (not counting MR crazies) spends an awful lot with BA so the GF lounge could do with a better class of drink. As it used to back in the Bolly days. Perhaps there are some cheap AA EXP's in the lounge each day, but not a huge number.

KARFA

The Bollinger rose went from the GF literally a few months before I got my gold card

Phil the Flyer

Advance apologies if recently posted here or on another wine thread.

The BA wine list included with the CW menu on BA155 LHR-CAI last night stated - 'As a global airline British Airways prides itself on finding interesting and attractive wines from all corners of the world. We aim to offer a choice of wines that give a balance of styles, grape varieties and countries ...'

So much for 'all corners of the world' and 'balance of ... countries'. Of the five wines on the wine list three (i.e. 60%) were from one country - Spain.

Whatever happened to the likes of Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, USA, etc?

stimpy

I think your route may have something to do with it. I always see French wines on the JFK or IAD routes. HKG and SIN too. And I'm sure they serve Aussie wines on the SYD route and I know they serve California wines to SFO and LAX.

twincheeks

What about South Africa ?

Returning from CPT a few years ago I was very disappointed to see that no SA wines were offered by BA even in the lounge. We travelled around the country and had sampled some excellent wines at very reasonable prices, and if anything things have improved.