Celebrity Cruises have just announced that they'll be operating a series of scrumptious food and wine-themed sailings from Southampton next year.
From September 7 to November 18, 2012, Celebrity Constellation will present an entirely new "Immersive Europe Wine Cruises" from Southampton.
Designed to offer guests rich experiences in the classic wine countries of France, Spain and Portugal, the new itineraries feature overnight stays in Le Havre (for Paris/Normandy) and Le Verdon (for Bordeaux), France, as well as Bilbao, Spain, allowing passengers ample time to sip Champagne in the "City of Light," taste robust Bordeaux in the land that bears its name, and relish fine Rioja wines.
Guests also will have the opportunity to enjoy tours and tastings at some of the region's most renowned wineries, grape harvesting experiences, and gain in-person insight into how Port wine is blended and aged in Porto, Portugal.
Celebrity's onboard experience will reflect the flair and flavour of the region, too, with activities developed in partnership with local wineries, including Rioja tastings, Champagne brunches, Bordeaux samplings featuring up to five wines from well-known Chateaus, Port and food pairing dinners and more, including special events in the ship's Cellar Masters bar, complete with its "Enomatic" by-the-glass wine serving system. A seasonal wine package featuring special selections from the region also will be added to Celebrity's already popular package offerings.
"This new series of modern luxury holidays represents a perfect blend of Celebrity's innovation and expertise in food and wine with the regions of Europe that have long been recognized for both," said Celebrity's President & CEO Dan Hanrahan.
"It's a truly one-of-a-kind vacation. No other cruise line offers such an enormous breadth and depth of experiences in this highly-rated region during harvest season, and no other line can deliver it like Celebrity can, with our exceptional wine programme, expertly trained sommeliers, Cellar Masters wine bars, and up to 500 selections of wine on every ship."
Nowadays, the possibilities seem endless. One reason, I submit, is that with little access to the classically great wines, yet with a public thirst for greatness that far exceeds that of 30 years ago, importers, distributors, sommeliers and consumers themselves have been compelled to seek out wines that nobody paid attention to 25 years ago, if they even existed.
Posted by: wine custom label | 12/07/2011 at 05:42 AM