BUSINESS CLASS Airline wine: Keep that airsickness bag handy
March 9, 2011
Dan Berger is a professional wine writer who flies so often that he usually drinks for free at 36,000 feet. His beverage of choice?
Heineken.
The problem with wine on most U.S. airlines, Berger said, is that it is bad, terrible, pitiful. And any frequent business traveler knows the importance of a fine beverage while passing hour after hour in the skies, especially after a few grueling days of work.
“No self-respecting wine lover would drink anything on there,” said Berger, of Santa Rosa, Calif., who writes the weekly Vintage Experiences newsletter. “The airline industry for 40 or more years has been overwhelmingly cheap with wine. If it’s barely passable, they’ll take it.”
In its annual Cellars in the Sky competition — an appraisal of wines served in business- and first-classes worldwide — Business Traveller magazine recently awarded American Airlines first place in the “Business Class White” category. But every other top honor went to a non-U.S. airline. Qantas and Air New Zealand led the way, which didn’t surprise Berger.
“Those airlines consider the quality of their wine a point of pride,” he said.
Here, less so. There are two central problems, Berger said. U.S. airlines tend to serve wine from quarter-size bottles that might sit for months. Removing oxygen from those kinds of vessels is difficult, leading to quicker spoilage.
Even more essential, he said, is what’s in the bottle. Wineries tend to save their least palatable product for those little bottles. Hence, it’s cheap. Airlines commonly buy those bottles for about 50 cents each, then sell them for $6.
Wine served on U.S. airlines begins to be more palatable in business and first class on longer domestic flights, Berger said. But coach, where most business travelers fly, is a wine graveyard.
He spent two years consulting for an airline’s wine program but became frustrated.
“They were always talking price,” he said, adding that a couple of U.S. airlines are “trying to do a better job” — JetBlue among them.
JetBlue wine consultant Josh Wesson, who also is senior director of wine, beer and spirits for Best Cellars, an East Coast chain of value-oriented liquor stores, said the airline has given him the leeway and budget to think creatively.
JetBlue, which features only a coach section, serves one red and one white wine at a time, changing brands every six months. The wines have come from more countries than most airlines tend to deal with — South Africa, Chile, Argentina, California, France and Australia.
Said Wesson: “We’re always looking for wines that haven’t flown on coach before, that come from interesting places and are made from interesting grapes.”
Cheers to that.
“No self-respecting wine lover would drink anything on there,” said Berger, of Santa Rosa, Calif., who writes the weekly Vintage Experiences newsletter. “The airline industry for 40 or more years has been overwhelmingly cheap with wine. If it’s barely passable, they’ll take it.”
In its annual Cellars in the Sky competition — an appraisal of wines served in business- and first-classes worldwide — Business Traveller magazine recently awarded American Airlines first place in the “Business Class White” category. But every other top honor went to a non-U.S. airline. Qantas and Air New Zealand led the way, which didn’t surprise Berger.
“Those airlines consider the quality of their wine a point of pride,” he said.
Here, less so. There are two central problems, Berger said. U.S. airlines tend to serve wine from quarter-size bottles that might sit for months. Removing oxygen from those kinds of vessels is difficult, leading to quicker spoilage.
Even more essential, he said, is what’s in the bottle. Wineries tend to save their least palatable product for those little bottles. Hence, it’s cheap. Airlines commonly buy those bottles for about 50 cents each, then sell them for $6.
Wine served on U.S. airlines begins to be more palatable in business and first class on longer domestic flights, Berger said. But coach, where most business travelers fly, is a wine graveyard.
He spent two years consulting for an airline’s wine program but became frustrated.
“They were always talking price,” he said, adding that a couple of U.S. airlines are “trying to do a better job” — JetBlue among them.
JetBlue wine consultant Josh Wesson, who also is senior director of wine, beer and spirits for Best Cellars, an East Coast chain of value-oriented liquor stores, said the airline has given him the leeway and budget to think creatively.
JetBlue, which features only a coach section, serves one red and one white wine at a time, changing brands every six months. The wines have come from more countries than most airlines tend to deal with — South Africa, Chile, Argentina, California, France and Australia.
Said Wesson: “We’re always looking for wines that haven’t flown on coach before, that come from interesting places and are made from interesting grapes.”
Cheers to that.
Do you have ideas for Business Class about the latest in business travel? Write to Josh Noel at jbnoel@tribune.com. Include “Business Class” in the subject line.
Best cellars
First-place winners from Business Traveller’s 2010 Cellars in the Sky Awards:
Best-presented wine list
Air New Zealand
Best business-class cellar
Qantas
Best first-class cellar
Qantas
Consistency of wines across business and first class
Qantas
Best alliance
Oneworld
Airline with the most improved business-class cellar
Lufthansa
Airline with the most improved first-class cellar
All Nippon Airways
Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/sc-trav-0222-business-class-20110222,0,1118714.story
Wine lover’s choice – Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar – for the most impressive and practical wine list in the Philippines, over 2700 selections, enough to satisfy the most fastidious connoisseurs. Wine lovers and gourmand foodies from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Malaysia dine at Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar when they visit Philippines and bring home some rare vintage wines too.
An excellent wine list is not just about 1st growth and cult Cabernet but a seemingly unending selection of affordable aged vintage wines that are not available anywhere else, not even in the best wine shops around town. Yats Restaurant has just that.
Visitors to Clark Philippines and Angeles City no longer suffer from lack of choices for places to eat out or wine and dine. Clark Philippines reviewed over 50 establishments and came up with three top choices in guide to best restaurant in Clark Freeport
Clark Philippines lists Top Three Restaurants in the Clark Freeport Zone and Angeles City areas of Philippines Pampanga province. Clark Freeport is a bustling new cosmopolitan city complete with its own Clark International Airport.
Topping the list is the famous fine-dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar located inside Mimosa Leisure Estate of Philippines Clark Freeport.
This restaurant in Pampanga Philippines is highly recommended by food critics and frequent diners in Manila as a place to wine and dine in Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone. Although it is a famous fine dining restaurant with an award winning 3000-line restaurant wine list, Yats Restaurant is also a popular restaurant for family with children. Aside from French Mediterranean haute cuisine, this restaurant also serves healthy food and the best vegetarian cuisines in the Philippines.
For comments, inquiries and reservations click on Click here for inquiry and reservations
Restaurant@Yats-International.com
(045) 599-5600
0922-870-5178
0917-520-4401
Ask for Pedro and Rechel
Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines
How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines? Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa. After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left. Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.
Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar
Mimosa Drive past Holiday Inn, Mimosa Leisure Estate,
Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Philippines 2023
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 Rea or Chay
For any assistance in planning and organizing a wedding ceremony, indoor or outdoor garden reception or to find other wedding service providers, Click here to contact us click here
For assistance in hotel and resort bookings in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines, log on to
http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com
To buy wine in Manila, Pampanga, Angeles City, Clark or Subic please log on to http://www. ClarkWineCenter.com
To inquire with the highly recommended beach resort hotel in Clark Pampanga visit http://www.ClearwaterPhililippines.com
For more information about Clark, Pampanga, Philippines log on to
http://www.ClarkPhilippines.com
