I remember that Montebello - wasn't it a couple of years ago? It was excellent! iirc it went to Australia and Asia.

i actually think that EK rotate as much small producer wine as they can, but as m3red says, quantity.

They need at least for a month.

The release of Chateau d'Yquem a few months ago in F was actually slightly disappointing I thought. The wine needed a bit of time to open up as some of the complexities were difficult to discern, but FAs were opening it only when customers wanted it (I know its hardly cost effective to open $500 wine in the off chance that someone *might* drink it). Its obviously quite a bottle to have on board, but I don't think it was anywhere near as nice in the air as it is on the ground in the F lounge.

I think that could be applied to most of EK's wine selection - I haven't had a 2005 D'Yquem on the ground to compare though!

Last December I enjoyed (more than a few) glasses of Penfolds Bin 389 in J. I noticed that not long after leaving SYD 6 bottles had been opened to breathe in the galley...I was very impressed. Much easier to do it for a wine like this than Cd'Y though!

I don't think I've ever seen them proactively open wine except for the PDB. I try to get to the bar right when it opens and get a few glasses of the partial bottles from the last leg (esp. coming from outstations) so I get the ones that have been open for a few hours.

There should not be anything left from the last leg: all open bottles are poured into the toilets before landing.

Most first class crew will have thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wine down the toilets during their career with EK ;)

Opening wine earlier is one of the things on my file notes on the pursers tablets. They do have carafes now but not seen them pro actively offered recently.

ET you are right on the Ridge - I had it on the way to Sri Lanaka and back. I think it was 2008.

They have it in the F lounge?

They did, but not now.

Leftover wine from rotations ends up in the F lounges so sometimes there are some gems there!

I'm going to post the wine lists if I remember from my next trips.

Our tasting palate is greatly affected by the low pressure and humidity at 30,000 miles. It also affects our taste of wine. Sweet and salty senses are especially affected. Sour, bitter and spicy flavours much less. This may be the reason that the Yquem did not really deliver. I did not have the change to taste the Yquem though. The best red wine I had on an Emirates F flight is the Hermitage of Jaboulet 1997. Better than the Penfolds Bin 28.

I wonder if they're saving the still wines... I remember reading/watching a video on EK wine service and they said they try to save wines, and I've seen on a number of outstation legs that there are partial bottles with the labels stained red, so I wonder with all the cost cutting they're hitting this harder?

Makes me sad to throw away partials of my own because I know how much work and love goes into growing, pressing, fermenting, blending, and bottling wine... not to mention the actual $ :)

Depends on how strict customs controls are at the various outstations. Open wine on the ground is an excuse for time consuming inspections.