BUSINESS CLASS Airline wine: Keep that airsickness bag handy
June 4, 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
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