BOTTLED GENIUS

Which airlines served the finest wines on board last year? Marisa Cannon reports from our Cellars in the Sky Awards

The results of our 2016 Cellars in the Sky airline wine awards

‘Fizz is always easy to be impressed by, and we’ve had some worldclass bottles’

The marks have been totted up and tallied, and glasses raised to the victorious airlines. After tasting 245 bottles from 33 carriers, our expert panel of judges has crowned the winners of the 2016 Business Traveller Cellars in the Sky Awards, handing out trophies to the airlines that served the best in-flight wines last year.

Head judge Charles Metcalfe, co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge, gave out the awards at a reception on February 21 at Trinity House in London’s Tower Hill – our thanks to Trinity House for providing the perfect venue. We also held tastings of the winning labels at the Business Travel Show at Kensington’s Olympia on February 22-23. Joining Metcalfe on the judging panel this year were Masters of Wine Sarah Abbott, Tim Atkin and Peter McCombie.

CHOOSING THE WINNERS

Airlines could take part providing they served wine in business or first class on mid- or long-haul routes. Each could enter two reds, two whites, a sparkling and a fortified or dessert wine from both their business and first class cellars. They could compete in as many categories as they liked, but to be eligible for the Best Cellar awards had to enter at least one red, white and sparkling wine. Every bottle was blind-tasted over two days at Crowne Plaza London Kensington – our thanks to the staff and the critics for all their hard work. Wines were scored out of 100, with awardwinning ones rated between 93 and 97, and anything under 75 deemed undrinkable. The judges did not know which wines were submitted by which airlines.

To calculate the Best First and Business Class Cellar awards, we took the average mark of an airline’s red, white and sparkling wines. For the Best Overall Cellar, we took all scores into account.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The judges agreed that champagne was one of the strongest categories this year.“Fizz is always easy to be impressed by, and we’ve had some worldclass bottles,” Metcalfe said. Atkin added: “They’re all big brands rather than grower’s champagnes, though, because there’s that reassurance in the strength of the brand. If you start with a good glass of Grand Cru or Grand Siècle, it’s easy to make a good impression early on, and people will believe that this is a serious operation.”

Abbott said: “In first class, there are examples of specialist wines that are quite rare. Business class is trickier because the budget is lower, but the quality of the wine is generally very good. It’s then a question of the appropriateness and the style, but there are some brilliant wines here.”

Comparing wine lists is one way of distinguishing quality and the effort behind each selection. “The value of going through a list is that you get closer to the customer experience,” Abbott said. “I really liked lists that made a connection between the airline – as the ambassador for its country – and its wine and food. Although it’s tougher for those airlines to compete across an international benchmark, I think it’s a really laudable effort.”

Overall, the judges thought that the white offering was stronger than red this year.“It’s easier to get it right with whites because there are two potential pitfalls in the air for reds – one is tannin and the other is alcohol,” Metcalfe explained.“With white, you’ve only got acidity to think about.”

Heavy Bordeaux wines, which are very tannic, are often featured on wine lists because of the

prestige attached to them. These aren’t always the best to serve at altitude, however, as the lack of pressure and dry air makes it harder to sense aroma and the complexity of the flavour.

McCombie felt airlines could make bolder choices, choosing less traditional wines, the flavours of which are enhanced at altitude. “The wines that did best were the pinot noir and syrah in various forms, which will be delicious to drink in the air,” he said. “Airlines don’t have the opportunity to give passengers ten wines on a flight, so if they choose well, and non-traditionally, they could really impress. They’re right that some customers will expect Bordeaux, but I think airlines need to be braver in their selection process.”

HOW AIRLINES PICK WINE

Most carriers taste hundreds of wines when selecting their list but methods differ slightly. Icelandair, for example, launches an informal tender whereby suppliers pitch their ideas for menus. Working with a consultant, the airline chooses two to three suppliers to follow on to the tasting phase.

Iris Groeneweg, purchasing manager of onboard retail and service at Icelandair, says: “We usually have a mix of people participating in the tasting – wine specialists, frequent flyers, wine enthusiasts, sommeliers and airline staff. When it comes to choosing the final supplier, it comes down to cost, quality and service level.”

Lorna Green, customer experience communications manager at Qatar Airways, says the airline tries to provide a balance of wines on its list. “Age is not as important to us as the overall quality, taking into account that some wines do get better with age,” she said.

“For us, it’s more important that a wine is served at its best. We buy some wines in advance and lay them down so we can use them at a later date, when they have matured. We will purchase wines in the coming year from all major wine growing areas, both Old and New World, to provide the balance required.”

For your chance to taste some of the winning wines at our London Cellars in the Sky reader event on March 13, email events@panaceapublishing.com stating your name and company. See overleaf for the winners…

‘I think airlines need to be braver in their selection process’