Wine aboard ship

[stefanyb]

While channel surfing I came across this piece on the Travel Channel about high end cruising and ResidenSea the floating condo. These condos run about $5Million.

Anyway, they asserted that when cruising, you should not order expensive wines because the bottles cannot be stored without being jostled by the waves of the ocean. What do you know-it-alls think about this notion?

[lamb]

Anyway, they asserted that when cruising, you should not order expensive wines because the bottles cannot be stored without being jostled by the waves of the ocean.  What do you know-it-alls think about this notion?

While I'm certainly not anywhere near an expert on this subject, I did observe a ship loading its goods when disembarking this summer. On the Royal Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale, we noticed pallets of food stuffs that were dockside waiting to be hoisted below. My friends and I commented on the MANY cases of wine that were among the items. That would lead me to believe that most wine does not stay on board for too long (they also don't have the storage capacity), so jostling would not have too much effect. The jostling effect could be applied also to wines that ship cross country, say from the West to East Coasts for distribution. Anybody have any thoughts about that?

[Rail Paul]

My friends and I commented on the MANY cases of wine that were among the items.  That would lead me to believe that most wine does not stay on board for too long (they also don't have the storage capacity), so jostling would not have too much effect.  The jostling effect could be applied also to wines that ship cross country, say from the West to East Coasts for distribution.  Anybody have any thoughts about that?

Most French wine in the US arrives by ship, I believe, and much of it is transferred in trailer sized containers to the bonded distributors, often by rail. (Visions of heavily insulated containers being humped at multiple rail yards across the country)

With ResidenSea, the question is a bit more difficult as you are storing your own wine aboard your own ship, perhaps for several years as you cruise the world. I would hope, given the seven figure residence costs, the ship offers stabilized, secure, temperature controlled facilities.

You could end up with a cargo of internationally acquired wines which might not be importable into the US without a permit. That could lead to some exciting wine trading on the high seas...

[Steve Plotnicki]

The standard rules about storing wine is that it is to be kept in a dark, vibrationless place, with the tempertaure between 52 and 58 degrees and a humidity that is constantly as 70%. What happens to wine if it isn't stored according to that regimen is that it ages more quickly. And sometimes aging more quickly means ruined. For example, if you were to keep your wine at 65 degrees, if it was supposed to be mature at 20 years you might find it mature between 12-15. But if you stored it at 80 degrees, it might be ruined after more then 3 years in storage. The impact of vinration is harder to pin down. I once read a study someone did with some type of high speed spinning mechanism and it had no discernable impact on wine.

[Fat Guy]

There's a pretty long tradition of consuming fine wine on cruise ships, and I've had a few bottles myself, so I don't think it would be reasonable to say that cruising ruins wine. Aren't there some wines, like Port or Madeira or something, that were thought to be improved by ocean transport? It's a gentle rocking rather than a vibration situation, so there's certainly a sediment issue, but I doubt it's all that big a deal. I bet an industrious user could e-mail a couple of the cruise lines and ask them about it -- Cunard must have a serious sommelier in its employ who could speak to the issue.

[lamb]

I bet an industrious user could e-mail a couple of the cruise lines and ask them about it -- Cunard must have a serious sommelier in its employ who could speak to the issue.

An interesting note about my cruise on Royal Caribbean this past August. We were surprised our first night out that our waiter presented the wine list. When we asked if the sommelier would be by to take our order, our waiter told us that RC did away with their sommeliers at the beginning of 2002. The ship still had a cellar master on board, and it was his duty to bring the waiters up to speed regarding their wine knowledge. I have to say that even though our waiter tried his best and did a decent job, it was not the same as having the wine presented at the table by the sommelier. We had some memorable times on past cruises on the Celebrity Line with the sommeliers and was looking forward to the same on RC. Guess it's a sign of the times.

[Kim WB]

We had some memorable times on past cruises on the Celebrity Line with the sommeliers and was looking forward to the same on RC.

Especially on the Cruise ships, when the wine is often the best part of the meal! I

[Rail Paul]

I made a few calls on the subject:

Carnival and Celebrity Cruises both limit the passenger to one bottle of wine per room. There are no facilities for personal storage of wine on the ship. That one bottle of wine may be served to you in the ship's dining without a corkage fee.

Seabourn does not have a formal limit for the carry-aboard of wine. Each room is equipped with a fridge, where the wine may be stored. The ship's own wine lockers are not available for customer use due to inventory controls and other regulations. A corkage fee of $10 per bottle is applied to customer wines served at a meal.

Still waiting to hear back from Residensea. I wrote them an e-mail describing my need to bring aboard six cases of (Mr Plotnicki's) best wines and my need for a stabilized, temperature controlled storage environment before we drink them.

Charlie Palmer is the consulting chef for Residensea, which will be making a brief visit at the North River Cruise ship dock in NYC on Friday of this week.

[britcook]

Friends whose expertise in wine is greater than mine claim that fine wine does not respond well to travel and needs a day or two to settle down after agitation to be at its best. I have noticed that a car journey does tend to affect wine slightly, difficult to describe but it tastes "undbalanced". Now on a large cruise ship the motion is usually much more gentle so if the vibrations are well damped then the effect on the wine should be minimal. If it were a cross-channel ferry that might be different.

[Fat Guy]

I definitely notice it after a car trip, a plane flight, or even a subway ride home from a wine shop. But I've had plenty of wine on cruise ships and it has always seemed fine. I've never done side-by-side tasting but as you say Britcook the gentle rocking has got to be in a different category of agitation.

[Ed Hamilton]

While I'm no expert on wine, I spend most of my life on a relatively small sailboat, 45 feet 28 tons, and can tell you that the motion on even a small boat like mine isn't nearly as bad as a trip home on the subway, except in heavy weather. I keep my wine in the bilge where it's cooler than anywhere else but still in the 70s and I've had a lot of wine last more than a year even in the tropics. Sailboats generally have a better motion than power boats unless you are talking about cruise ships which are the smoothest way to travel.

On cruise ships, the motion is almost negligible compared to the motion of a cargo ship, rail car, or truck. Cruise ships have huge stabilizers to reduce the motion. As for limits on the amount of wine cruise ships allow their passengers, they are looking at their bottom line, although corkage fees compensate.

Storage space is at a premium on any ship, but keeping the passengers happy is also important. I wouldn't think twice about bringing some of my favorite wine aboard ResidenSea, as long as it wan't going to be stored near the engine room.