What to Expect for Wines on a Rhine River Cruise With Avalon Waterways

Many people have taken an ocean cruise travelling up to Alaska or around the Caribbean, or maybe the Mediterranean Sea, but fewer people have taken a river cruise, as far as I know.  I decided to go on a Rhine River cruise hosted by Avalon Waterways, travelling from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland.  It was an eight day trip and included all meals, plus a selection of alcoholic drinks during meals.  They also did have a daily Happy Hour which ran for one day that included a selection of cocktails, wine, and beer.  Being the food and adult beverage lover that I am, I thought I would pass along information about the food and beverages I was offered during this cruise. To keep this article short, I will just cover wines here, with an article about the dishes served in a separate article.

I would be interested to compare this info with the dishes and beverages that you would get on an ocean cruise, as I’ve never been on an ocean cruise.  If you have been on a recent ocean cruise, please fill out your food and beverage experiences in the comment section below.  Thank you.

Only one white, red, and rosé wine was offered at each meal, although some of the same wines may be served on subsequent days.  Over all the days, the white wines we were served:

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  Allendorf Riesling Trocken, Germany
• Moselland Riesling, Germany
• Hochheimer Daubhaus Riesling Kabinett, Germany
• Alfred Fischer Pinot Blanc, Austria
• Alphart Rotgipfler vom Berg, Austria (Rotgipfler being a new grape variety to me.)
• Seegut Lentsch Gruner Veltliner, Austria
• Barbanera Toscana Bianco, Italy

The three white wines from Germany were all Riesling.  All three wines from Austria were from different white grape varieties (Pinot Blanc, Rotgipfler, Gruner Veltliner).  The Italian wine is interesting, as it is a white wine made from the Sangiovese grape.

The red wines we were served:

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  Allendorf Spatburgunder, Germany
• Crudo Nero d’Avola, Italy
• Gran Appasso Primitivo, Puglia, ltaly
• Biorebe Merlot 2022, Italy
• Femar Vini Primitivo le Vignate, Italy
• Masseria La Vignate Primitivo IGP Puglia 2024, Italy
• Bodegas San Gregorio las Martas (Grenache), Spain
• Bodegas San Gregorio El Vergal (Tempranillo), Spain
• Alphart Zweigelt Classic 2024, Austria
• Domaine Guinard, Black Gorilla, France
• Christoph-Seydel-Str 2024 Spätburgunder Trocken Reinhessen, Germany (one of my favourite wines of the trip)

Both German red wines were from the Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) grape.  The five Italian wines were from three different varieties (1 wine from Nero d’Avola, 3 from Primitivo, 1 from Merlot).  Grenache and Tempranillo were used for each of the Spanish wines. There was only one red wine from Austria, made with the Zweigelt grape.  I wish there was another Zweigelt to try as we do not get many Zweigelt wines in BC.  The French wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot blend.

The rosé wines we were served:

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  Allendorf Spatburgunder Rosé, Germany
• Stiftsweingut Frank Meyer Gleiszellen Rosé, Germany (one of my favourite wines of the trip)
• Marcel Martin Rosé d’Anjou la Jaglerie, France
• Domaine de la Baume Rosé, France
• French Dog Rosé, Cotes de Gascogne, France
• Bründlmayer Zweigelt Rosé, Austria

The German rose wines were made from the Spatburgunder grape, Austria was the Zweigelt grape, and for France primarily Syrah, Grenache, with one made from Cabernet Franc.

I reviewed a few of these wines over three separate articles while I was on the trip. Overall the wines I tasted were 4-stars on average on my rating scale, with a range between 3.5 and 4.5 stars.  I tended to drink more of the white and the rosé wines, as they would pair with many more of the dishes served at lunch and dinner.  The white wines were evenly split between Austria and German wineries, with one from Italy.  There were three rosé wines from France, two from Germany, and one from Austria.  For the red wines there were two German wines, both Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir), five wines from Italy, typically the warmer, southern region, two wines from Spain, one from Austria, and one from France.  Most of these wines are not available in BC, but there are a few that I saw available at Marquis Wine Cellars and at Everything Wine. I have not checked any of these wines to see if they are available at BC Liquor stores.

The only thing that I wished was better with the wine service on the cruise is if the servers had some training about the wines.  Even basic information about what they are serving, or have one person that has that training that could answer a wine lover’s questions onboard.  I assume that the cruise line bought several cases of these wines and will use them for most/all the cruises over the summer and fall seasons.  When I reviewd the 3 wines I could choose from for a meal, I would ask for the Zweigelt or the Spatburgunder, for example, and get a blank stare. If I said red wine or rosé wine, they understood. So I think there’s a little room to grow and to make Avalon Waterways cruise an even better experience for wine lovers.  Cheers.