Cost-curring: Wines in C
Nov 13, 2010 | 8:22 am
#1
Original Poster
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold/OW emerald, QR
Posts: 17,074
Cost-curring: Wines in C
I just returned from Osaka and after a few recent trips in C, I thought that need to share my frustration.
I am a wine lover and I understand that others would not share my displeasure.
Wines served in C have gone down (as in F) but to an unacceptable level.
Champagne is Deutz Brut Classic. I would not rank it high among the NV, but decent. White wines are two low-level French wines (a Vir-Class and a Sancerre). The red wines are a RockBare Shiraz 2008 and a Fronton 2007 from low-quality southwest French region. The Shiraz can be obtained retail for around HKD110 and the Fronton for HKD70. Fronton is truly bad and I would never serve it for dinner with my wife. The shiraz is slightly less bad but sitll a low quality Shiraz whose only quality is to be very alcoholic.
I understand cost cutting but I cannot think of another airline that serves such cheap wines in C. I recently had a BKK flight on TG and was served Chablis 1er cru and decent red wines. SQ, OZ and NH (my last recent experiences) also serve much better wines than CX (both in C and in F).
I am a wine lover and I understand that others would not share my displeasure.
Wines served in C have gone down (as in F) but to an unacceptable level.
Champagne is Deutz Brut Classic. I would not rank it high among the NV, but decent. White wines are two low-level French wines (a Vir-Class and a Sancerre). The red wines are a RockBare Shiraz 2008 and a Fronton 2007 from low-quality southwest French region. The Shiraz can be obtained retail for around HKD110 and the Fronton for HKD70. Fronton is truly bad and I would never serve it for dinner with my wife. The shiraz is slightly less bad but sitll a low quality Shiraz whose only quality is to be very alcoholic.
I understand cost cutting but I cannot think of another airline that serves such cheap wines in C. I recently had a BKK flight on TG and was served Chablis 1er cru and decent red wines. SQ, OZ and NH (my last recent experiences) also serve much better wines than CX (both in C and in F).
Nov 13, 2010 | 7:34 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX DM
Posts: 1,144
I'm not a huge wine lover, but do share your displeasure as it's gotten that bad. I think CX reckons that there is no upside (i.e. winning new customers) from serving excellent food and drink, but they fail to realise that there is downside (i.e. customers switching away) when standards fall far enough. I have recently done 2 long haul flights in BA and QF. BA is marginally better than CX, and QF far better overall. So I reckon they are simply driving standards down to the point where switching starts, then they'll move up slightly.
Nov 13, 2010 | 8:18 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HKG, BOS
Programs: CX SL, AB Gold, AF/KL FB Silver, HU/HX Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,596
They still serve cheap Chinese wines in all classes.But on the other hand, oneworld boasts being the 'best alliance for wine' and CX having won awards. I guess that was before the cost-cutting?
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news/details?objectID=20707
Nov 14, 2010 | 12:24 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 8,246
I just returned from Osaka and after a few recent trips in C, I thought that need to share my frustration.
I am a wine lover and I understand that others would not share my displeasure.
Wines served in C have gone down (as in F) but to an unacceptable level.
Champagne is Deutz Brut Classic. I would not rank it high among the NV, but decent. White wines are two low-level French wines (a Vir-Class and a Sancerre). The red wines are a RockBare Shiraz 2008 and a Fronton 2007 from low-quality southwest French region. The Shiraz can be obtained retail for around HKD110 and the Fronton for HKD70. Fronton is truly bad and I would never serve it for dinner with my wife. The shiraz is slightly less bad but sitll a low quality Shiraz whose only quality is to be very alcoholic.
I understand cost cutting but I cannot think of another airline that serves such cheap wines in C. I recently had a BKK flight on TG and was served Chablis 1er cru and decent red wines. SQ, OZ and NH (my last recent experiences) also serve much better wines than CX (both in C and in F).
I am a wine lover and I understand that others would not share my displeasure.
Wines served in C have gone down (as in F) but to an unacceptable level.
Champagne is Deutz Brut Classic. I would not rank it high among the NV, but decent. White wines are two low-level French wines (a Vir-Class and a Sancerre). The red wines are a RockBare Shiraz 2008 and a Fronton 2007 from low-quality southwest French region. The Shiraz can be obtained retail for around HKD110 and the Fronton for HKD70. Fronton is truly bad and I would never serve it for dinner with my wife. The shiraz is slightly less bad but sitll a low quality Shiraz whose only quality is to be very alcoholic.
I understand cost cutting but I cannot think of another airline that serves such cheap wines in C. I recently had a BKK flight on TG and was served Chablis 1er cru and decent red wines. SQ, OZ and NH (my last recent experiences) also serve much better wines than CX (both in C and in F).
I started this thread a while back,
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...e-types-f.html, I was quite surprised by the Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay in place of a white burgundy, or even a better California chardonnay....or anything else that tasted better. This is a $15 US bottle of wine that tastes like it. Indeed they still have the "marquee" wines there, like the Lynch Bages and Krug (which are going to appeal to anyone, even if they don't know anything about wine because in addition to being good, they're also flashy, expensive names), but as someone who enjoys wine I was really disappointed to see the Wente on there . I was hoping to enjoy some (decent/interesting) chardonnay with one of the appetizers, but I was thwarted. Wente is literally a wine I could pick up at the corner store in the US.
Nov 14, 2010 | 12:41 am
#6
Original Poster
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold/OW emerald, QR
Posts: 17,074
I completely agree. I usually don't even bother with the wines in J anymore except Deutz.
I started this thread a while back,
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...e-types-f.html, I was quite surprised by the Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay in place of a white burgundy, or even a better California chardonnay....or anything else that tasted better. This is a $15 US bottle of wine that tastes like it. Indeed they still have the "marquee" wines there, like the Lynch Bages and Krug (which are going to appeal to anyone, even if they don't know anything about wine because in addition to being good, they're also flashy, expensive names), but as someone who enjoys wine I was really disappointed to see the Wente on there . I was hoping to enjoy some (decent/interesting) chardonnay with one of the appetizers, but I was thwarted. Wente is literally a wine I could pick up at the corner store in the US.
I started this thread a while back,
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...e-types-f.html, I was quite surprised by the Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay in place of a white burgundy, or even a better California chardonnay....or anything else that tasted better. This is a $15 US bottle of wine that tastes like it. Indeed they still have the "marquee" wines there, like the Lynch Bages and Krug (which are going to appeal to anyone, even if they don't know anything about wine because in addition to being good, they're also flashy, expensive names), but as someone who enjoys wine I was really disappointed to see the Wente on there . I was hoping to enjoy some (decent/interesting) chardonnay with one of the appetizers, but I was thwarted. Wente is literally a wine I could pick up at the corner store in the US.
Indeed wines in F have gone down dramatically, except for Krug and Lynch Bages. The others are very poor. No decent white wine. Most airlines have cut down on wine served as an easy way to cut cost. But CX has gone too far compared to its competitors (Asian and European).