Another amazing EK wine week. The 2009 Dom Rosé was free flowing on both ORD-DXB and DXB-IAH. Although not in the book, I asked FAs on both DXB-BKK and CGK-DXB just in case, but it was not on board on either flight.

ORD-DXB...











Great bartender in the B lounge was able to find a hidden bottle somewhere.



On my return home yesterday, Opus One was actually in the A wine fridge when I looked.



DXB-IAH...

Nice! EK continues to strike it out of the park! On my last 4 flights, the 2009 Rosé was available on 3. It's supposed to be on all flights out of DXB. Usually, one or two bottles. Great stuff.

The 2009 Dom Rose was sublime. I even asked the lovely crew to make sure none went down the lav, so they gave me a paper cup with the remainder at top-of-descent... only 5/14 in F for my flight so the 3 of us hanging out at the bar had full access to the two bottles they loaded and still had leftovers.

Of course, the Opus One, Angelus, and Jadot were excellent as well

Lucky you! In my case, the Rosé didn’t last for more than 3-4 hours.

On EK202 JFK-DXB last night, I asked for Dom Rose upon boarding (was listed on the online wine list).
Was told they couldn’t open it on the ground which was a first for me.

Anyway, once airborne I asked an FA for a glass and she said they didn’t have any. Purser also looked everywhere including the J bar, but no luck. She said there’s only been 2 bottles being catered ex-DXB recently for both outbound and inbound, and the outbound crew must have poured both of them.

It seems they are tightly managing stocks now and it does seem a bit stingy to only load a single bottle for an A380 sector (annoying enough that JL used to do this with a single bottle of Salon split between 8 people in F, never mind 14!)

Was speaking to the crew on EK8 yesterday about this, it’s not included in the printed menus (you only find out about it online) and EK are now pitching it as just a ‘welcome drink’ apparently. Fortunately, passengers were not very thirsty on the short overnight EK7 and so both bottles remained for the EK8 and I did my best to drink both before landing (came up a couple of glasses short as I was working during the flight and had to stop drinking mid-flight!). Also makes me feel guilty about asking for two negroni sbagliatos made with DP Rose on my EK5 last weekend knowing it’s now only one bottle per sector!

I notice it disappears from the online menu entirely for November and is not listed for my return sector on Sunday, so will be interested to see if it just stops being served then to preserve stocks or whether a secret bottle is loaded on request for a while as last year with DP Rose / P2.

The DP Rose still being loaded as long as you know to ask for it. Successfully demolished the entire bottle on EK4. IYKYK, I guess…

Was also loaded on EK449 AKL-DXB last night despite not being on the menu. I asked at the gate in AKL and FA served it as my PDB.

Yes! Very pleased it’s still being loaded despite not appearing on the app any more. I am being told it’s always two bottles and only loaded ex-DXB. The crew has no mandate to only use one of the two, so availability on the return sector depends on what was consumed on the outbound (…apologies to anyone flying ex-LHR tomorrow, although in my defence the first bottle was corked).

On a related note, the 2006 Angelus drinks really well but I think the 2013 Domaine Des Perdrix Echezeaux is the star right now on the London route. Both need plenty of time breathing, but the reliably exceptional EK crews (I have no idea how this airline achieves such stellar consistency) have no issues popping the corks right away.

I was also impressed to see the 2015 Bibi Graetz Colore appearing on one of my Asia routes last week. Not an obvious choice, and as such very fun to have. It’s a bit of a delicate animal in a plane and with some of the strong flavours on the menu, but nonetheless excellent.

It’s a bit unclear, the Purser was of the opinion the second bottle should be saved for the return sector on my flight to STN on Sunday. May have been the single worst EK F flight I’ve ever had for service though (they didn’t even come to take my post-departure drinks order!) so he could have just been making that up, though, like a lot of the rest of the procedure they followed.

Usually wonder around seeing what random bottles in the lounge but first strike next to A10-12 pretty strong. Angelus, di Neri Cerretalto and Pontet Canet 2012 set out. Decent!

DP Rose onboard and both Angelus and aforementioned Pinot

DP Rose was on EK7 on 28 Oct, EK2 on 3 Nov and surprisingly on EK408 on 4 Nov.

DP Rose still going as of today. ATC issues at LHR preventing us leaving are more a blessing than a curse!

More fabulous wines Friday in the A FCL and DXB-SEA...

EK F coming up aces, again!