Cover Stories

Wines on the Wing

by Eunice Fried

Global Traveler’s annual review of the high-flying wines passengers enjoy in business-class cabins of airlines around the world.

It’s time once again to reveal the results of Global Traveler’s Wines on the Wing competition — the ever-popular annual event that brings high-flying wines down to earth. This year’s judging of airlines’ international business-class wines, held at Sofitel New York in Manhattan, brought together 31 airlines pitting 150 wines against one another. Thirty-five professional judges tasted the offerings in coded glasses to find the wines whose qualities shone above the others. And the winner of Wines on the Wing 2006 — the airline whose wines garnered the highest overall score — was Air Canada.

Each year, we look for trends in the wines the airlines choose to serve. Some years, the trend has been toward Southern Hemisphere wines — those from Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Australia. Other years, it has been the move to serve only wines produced in the airline’s home country. Another trend we’ve noticed is that at times airlines invest strongly in vintage champagne while in other years, they revert sharply to non-vintage champagne.

This year’s winner set its own standards. With its five selections representing three countries, Air Canada won with the highest-rated champagne, the non-vintage Drappier Carte d’Or Brut; with the high-scoring Benton Lane Pinot Noir 1999 Reserve from Oregon; another high-scoring wine, Treana Red 2002, a blend from Paso Robles, Calif.; and with its two white wines, Viognier from France and Chardonnay from British Columbia.

“We believe our wines should represent the wine-making regions of the world, so our customers are treated to wines from both the Old World and the New World with Canadian wines a permanent feature,” said Air Canada’s Roberto Solarino, adding wines are selected based on the “best fit for the airline environment; wines that are able to compensate for the partial dulling of taste buds at high cabin altitudes.”

When it comes time to select wines, Solarino collaborates with Kenneth Chase of Chase International, Air Canada’s field consultant. Solarino drafts a proposal of the airline’s needs; Chase then gathers wines that fit the proposal and presents them to the airline’s wine council — three well-known Canadian wine experts — at a formal tasting. The final selection, made by Solarino, takes into account the council’s recommendations. On its international flights, Air Canada offers two white wines and three reds, one of which is a unique and relatively rare red wine the airline calls a “hidden treasure.” Generally, Air Canada changes the still wines it serves on board every six months. In all, the carrier opens approximately 320,000 bottles of still wine and 62,000 bottles of champagne each year on its international flights.

The trend in airline champagnes clearly has turned toward non-vintage brut. This year, only three airlines submitted vintage champagne, and none of them showed well enough to make our Top 10 Champagne/Sparkling Wine list. Neither did any of the six non-champagne sparkling entries. The result? All of the 10 coveted spots on the list were won by high-scoring non-vintage champagnes.

Air Canada’s winner, Drappier Carte d’Or Brut, is a blend of 90 percent pinot noir with the rest, chardonnay and pinot meunier. It’s a champagne that judge David Frieser complimented for its “fresh fruit, persistent flavors and crisp finish,” and Robin Kelley O’Connor found to be “well-made, with good acidity, good length and a fruity finish.”

The second-highest-scoring champagne was Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve, Mis en Cave en 2001, submitted by British Airlines — a champagne that judge Don Dombrosky enjoyed for its full flavor and richness and Melissa Sutherland-Amado declared “a wine drinker’s champagne.”

There was an interesting trend among white wines this year. Not a single big, high-alcohol, heavily oaked wine appeared among the winners. In fact, the highest-scoring white was a chablis which is, after all, chardonnay tempered by climate and t radition. It was followed closely by a riesling. The Top 10 whites also included another chablis, another riesling, an Albariño and three sauvignon blancs.

The winning chablis was SN Brussels Airlines’ Domaine William Févre 2004. It showed “hints of acacia, honey and green fruit” to judge Vito Polosa; and “a subtle, interesting complexity” to Darrin Siegfried.

“We know passengers lose some taste sensation at 35,000 feet,” said SN Brussels’ Philip Mortier. “That is why wines need to be expressive and last longer in the mouth. A wine, perhaps a bit young on the ground, can taste much better in the air.”