Question regarding 2nd growth- Bordeaux in F

[SQOZflyer]

On all of my recent F and Suites flights, I noticed that there is only 1 2nd Growth- Bordeaux left in the wine list (Château Léoville-Poyferré). If I remember it correctly, SQ served 2 2nd Growth- Bordeaux (Château Léoville-Poyferré and Château Cos d'Estournel) last year.

Did Cos d'Estournel also fall victim to SQ's cost-cutting? I'm aware that most Airlines don't serve 2nd Growth- Bordeaux anymore these days and I'm not a huge fan anyway but I was wondering if this is permanent measure...

[MegatopLover]

Looking back into the menus and wine lists I've saved (and some I've seen here on SQT), I believe SQ typically serves only one Bordeaux on a given flight, and it is often contrasted with a New World wine from the origin/destination country. For example, SQ would have the Cos or the Poyferre matched with Sequoia Grove Napa cab on California flights or a shiraz from Torbeck or Killikanoon on Australia flights. I think I've only seen one wine list from SQ sporting two Bordeaux (Cos and Pichon-Lalande, IIRC), and for some reason I think it was on a Japan flight (where Bordeaux are hugely popular). Perhaps others can provide more examples.

As for whether SQ has permanently switch from Cos to Poyferre as the standard offering, I don't know but it would seem so. I haven't seen any SQ F wine lists on here with Cos in a while-- save for the A380 inaugural to SYD, which sported a 1982 Cos and another '82 Bordeaux, equally delicious.

On my last SQ 001/002, they served Poyferre and it was very good. But I prefer Cos.

[sqforever]

Hmm....interesting. http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_U...ite/dining.jsp

On this page they show a picture of Cos and mention 2nd growth bordeaux. The picture also is lower quality compared to the rest of the pics on the page which makes it look like they pulled it straight from google image

[Howard Long]

On all of my recent F and Suites flights, I noticed that there is only 1 2nd Growth- Bordeaux left in the wine list (Château Léoville-Poyferré). If I remember it correctly, SQ served 2 2nd Growth- Bordeaux (Château Léoville-Poyferré and Château Cos d'Estournel) last year.

Did Cos d'Estournel also fall victim to SQ's cost-cutting? I'm aware that most Airlines don't serve 2nd Growth- Bordeaux anymore these days and I'm not a huge fan anyway but I was wondering if this is permanent measure...

I believe you're right in that they have switched from two to one Bordeaux. This time last year, it was Cos 1999 plus Pichon Lalande 1998 on my routes.

Interestingly in F SIN-AKL last month it was Leoville-Poyferre, but AKL-SIN was Cos. All R routes were Cos last month.

Dropping a Bordeaux wouldn't be such a big deal if it was offset by wider choice, for example both a pinot noir and a syrah, as well as the Boardeaux, but that doesn't happen. Plus of course the quality is pinched, with a Pichon Lalande 98 at ~US$90 bottle and Cos 99 at ~US$65.

So, yes, it's clear that the bean counters are at work. Offset fuel costs by dropping wine.

On the wine front, there are sometimes some interesting choices. For example on SIN-HKG there were two sweet Rieslings in the whites as the only choice. They were both great should you choose the Chinese tasting menu, but otherwise as a food match you'd be struggling.

Howard