Winery/Producer: Five different vineyards
Appellation: New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Italy and Spain.
Tasting Location: Britannia Restaurant, Cunard Queen Elizabeth
Grape Variety Tasted: Five different grape varietals
Urlar, Sauvignon Blanc; New Zealand Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg, Riesling Spatlese; Rheingau, Germany Catena Alta, Malbec; Mendoza, Argentina Amarone, Masi; Veneto, Italy Blind tasting an unknown wine.Tasting Price: $28.75
Knowledge and Helpfulness of the Person Pouring the Wine: The tasting was hosted by Dinesh Kiathiresan, Chief Sommelier and three of his Assistant Sommeliers. They each took the tasters through one of the wines by providing background about the wine and their tasting interpretation while involving the audience at each step of the tasting. Their outstanding depth of knowledge and openness to discussion at each step of the tasting created an outstanding learning experience and a very enjoyable wine tasting.
Recommendation from the tasting: This was our second tasting on a Queen Elizabeth cruse, and without question they were both VERY enjoyable and educational. We would strongly recommend anyone on a Queen Elizabeth curse with an interest in wine or those just wanting to learn about wine attend one of these tastings.
Comments: This was by far the most informative wine tasting/class we have attended. Five wines, two whites and three reds, were explained by four experts who took the participants through the tasting process step by step. Questions were encouraged and participants could fully engage in the program. Cheese and bread were provided to cleanse the palate but the real value was in learning about the process of tasting wine and understanding what you are doing. The tasting cost $28.50 and was well worth the money when we compared it to the wine tasting of vineyards in California (or North Carolina) where wine is poured by employees that memorize scripts but know virtually nothing about wine.
The blind tasting was another VERY interesting and fun element of the tasting. Dinesh Kiathiresan led the group step by step through the tasting and together we identified the grape variety, country and region, alcoholic strength and vintage of the wine.
Overall it was a very fun and educational tasting. In addition, there were many first-time tasters in the audience that left with a better understanding of wine and an interest that had been sparked.
See also our posts on: Wine Pairing on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth: Britannia Restaurant and Wine Pairing Dinner On A Cruse Ship: Cunard Queen Elizabeth