The EK Wine Thread
#422
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere
Programs: AS MVP, EK Silver, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 921
EK is great for finding unknown producers in your own backyard. Kapcsandy Estate in Napa comes to mind as stunning producer that I'd probably driven past a hundred times. Unfortunately, as you point out, they might buy out the whole vintage...
#423
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 7,708
@a2663171, I have only flown EK on 2 US sectors before. All the rest of my EK flights are to/from DXB and Asia, Europe and Africa. Fortunately all in F. It's true IIRC neither of my US sectors (JFK and IAH) had super "bling" wines.
The most bling wines, some which I posted a few pages above were on Europe or HKG/SIN sectors. (Mouton, Las Cases, Cheval Blanc, etc.) Since I started flying EK a lot, I have really had some bling-name wines.
However, to you or anyone else worried about a "poor" wine list on their EK flight, "poor" wine list is an oxymoron on an EK flight. I have never had a bad wine list on EK even on my two USA flights. They always seem "curated" and someone theres at EK clearly not only has a budget but knows what the heck they are doing. A great list doesn't mean you just go buy the most expensive white or red or even bubbly, and a cheaper price is a downgrade, although there is often some correlation.
I am not professing to be an expert, but I have been a dear friend to my liver for decades now with my wine drinking, and the number of bottles I own isn't quite yet at 5 digits in length, but it surpassed 4 a long time ago. I have a real blast flying EK F since I started aggressively moving some of my spend from Cathay a few years ago. Even when served "off" vintages, which is often the case for the bling wines. The most pleasant times are seeing as I said above, a white CDP, a lovely Condrieu like the poster above took a pic of, you just don't get this type of crazy thought on the other airlines I fly a lot (mostly SQ and CX at this point). I am confident even if you're not on one of the EK "bling" wine routes, you can rest assured the curation, the care is all there, all of it is solid and the wines are of a very nice quality. Especially with food. Be prepared to enjoy it. There is some fun going to a wine dinner not knowing what your friends are bringing. This is my feeling getting on EK planes. It's surprising, it's fun, knowing the person who made the list knows their stuff and cares.
Oh, and they have the carafes. Use them to let a bigger wine aerate! I often request my red in a carafe an hour or more before I plan to drink it with my food. Little details like this are very nice.
With WiFi on board, I recommend you download or read Cellar Tracker (www.cellartracker.com) if you would like some community thoughts. Much better than a lot of other resources. Whatever you do don't read the blogs for your wine advice, unless you want to become dumber about wine.
The most bling wines, some which I posted a few pages above were on Europe or HKG/SIN sectors. (Mouton, Las Cases, Cheval Blanc, etc.) Since I started flying EK a lot, I have really had some bling-name wines.
However, to you or anyone else worried about a "poor" wine list on their EK flight, "poor" wine list is an oxymoron on an EK flight. I have never had a bad wine list on EK even on my two USA flights. They always seem "curated" and someone theres at EK clearly not only has a budget but knows what the heck they are doing. A great list doesn't mean you just go buy the most expensive white or red or even bubbly, and a cheaper price is a downgrade, although there is often some correlation.
I am not professing to be an expert, but I have been a dear friend to my liver for decades now with my wine drinking, and the number of bottles I own isn't quite yet at 5 digits in length, but it surpassed 4 a long time ago. I have a real blast flying EK F since I started aggressively moving some of my spend from Cathay a few years ago. Even when served "off" vintages, which is often the case for the bling wines. The most pleasant times are seeing as I said above, a white CDP, a lovely Condrieu like the poster above took a pic of, you just don't get this type of crazy thought on the other airlines I fly a lot (mostly SQ and CX at this point). I am confident even if you're not on one of the EK "bling" wine routes, you can rest assured the curation, the care is all there, all of it is solid and the wines are of a very nice quality. Especially with food. Be prepared to enjoy it. There is some fun going to a wine dinner not knowing what your friends are bringing. This is my feeling getting on EK planes. It's surprising, it's fun, knowing the person who made the list knows their stuff and cares.
Oh, and they have the carafes. Use them to let a bigger wine aerate! I often request my red in a carafe an hour or more before I plan to drink it with my food. Little details like this are very nice.
With WiFi on board, I recommend you download or read Cellar Tracker (www.cellartracker.com) if you would like some community thoughts. Much better than a lot of other resources. Whatever you do don't read the blogs for your wine advice, unless you want to become dumber about wine.
Last edited by QRC3288; Sep 21, 2019 at 12:17 am
#424
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere
Programs: AS MVP, EK Silver, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 921
Sadly, my cellartracker shows I have only 53 bottles. Best thing I have in there is 2 bottles of Dunn Howell Mountain 2004 and a bottle of 1998 Dom P2 in offsite cold storage, alog with a bunch of stuff I probably should have drank a few years back but forgot about. How do you manage 10k+ bottles?!
Last edited by Metanoia; Sep 22, 2019 at 2:23 am
#425
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: In transit
Programs: AF/KL BA GF EK EY LH QR
Posts: 587
#427
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: EK Plat
Posts: 244
Has anyone noticed a weird quirk where if you are on the Emirates UAE website, you cannot access the wine list, however, it works from other countries.
E.g.
https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/......=firstclass
vs
https://www.emirates.com/ae/english/......=firstclass
E.g.
https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/......=firstclass
vs
https://www.emirates.com/ae/english/......=firstclass
#428
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5,454
Has anyone noticed a weird quirk where if you are on the Emirates UAE website, you cannot access the wine list, however, it works from other countries.
E.g.
https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/......=firstclass
vs
https://www.emirates.com/ae/english/......=firstclass
E.g.
https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/......=firstclass
vs
https://www.emirates.com/ae/english/......=firstclass
If so, the reason is probably there
#429
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 7,708
A few of us here ask for carafes to be filled on boarding. If ex-DXB they can break the bonded cart seal and pour it right away. Elsewhere, its done just after takeoff. I had them do that with Opus One 2007, had it about 3 hours in. Killed the whole bottle. At the J bar no less... (in a J glass, mind you)
Sadly, my cellartracker shows I have only 53 bottles. Best thing I have in there is 2 bottles of Dunn Howell Mountain 2004 and a bottle of 1998 Dom P2 in offsite cold storage, alog with a bunch of stuff I probably should have drank a few years back but forgot about. How do you manage 10k+ bottles?!
Sadly, my cellartracker shows I have only 53 bottles. Best thing I have in there is 2 bottles of Dunn Howell Mountain 2004 and a bottle of 1998 Dom P2 in offsite cold storage, alog with a bunch of stuff I probably should have drank a few years back but forgot about. How do you manage 10k+ bottles?!
There are some excellent storage options here in Hong Kong, and I have some help to keep things organized. Not quite at 10k though.
#430
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: DXB
Programs: EK, AA, DL, UA, SPG, HGP, Amex
Posts: 1,207
#433
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 7,708
The last time I saw P2 on Emirates was last year. But they were serving P2 2000, not 2002. I don't think I've had the 2002 version yet on EK.
Anyway if EK already served the 2002 version then missed it. I will say, they were super fast if so, it has only been available briefly. Either way, great! EK wine is superb.
#435
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: London
Posts: 778