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The gold days of the flight can have disappeared for a long time, but for those who are lucky to turn left when boarding is still the prospect of champagne. And as competition for first -class customers increases – British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France have all unveiled new first -class suites – more airlines are now looking for sparkling wine to give their offering.
Singapore Airlines Recently signed an exclusive agreement to pay Cristal 2015 – a prestigious tank that it serves first class passengers on roads selected in tulip glasses by Lalique. “This glass of champagne is roughly the first thing that happens to you on a flight, so it is terribly important to do things well,” explains Oz Clarke, wine consultant. “And with the long -life wines of this caliber, it takes real planning. The burgundy red that we are currently serving in first class, a 2005 Pichon Lalande, for example, is the one we bought 15 years ago. The wines we buy will probably not leave the cellar before 2035.”
Qatar Airways“Anne Krebiehl, newly named, is a champagne specialist. She asserts the case to drink it at altitude, supported by the science of flavor. “At 35,000 feet, our senses are blurred due to the pressure of the cabin and the relative dryness of the air, but our perception of the Umami is not affected,” she says. “And you find a lot of umami in long age wines like Krug or Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, which contains a lot of reserve wines. The bubbles also help transport the right aroma to your olfactory receivers and stimulate the trijumeau nerve or white noise. ”
Krug Grande Cuvée 172nd edition, Served on Qatar Airways
Bollinger Rosé 2007
Winner of the gold medal with recent Cellars in the Sky Awards, Qatar Airways offers white and rosé champagne in first and in business. “First, we are currently serving Krug, with its exquisite flavor, and Bollinger the great rosé year, a cuvée led by Pinot with a lush velvet,” explains Krebiehl. “In business, it is often heidsieck raw reserve, of which I am a great devotee – he has such depth.”
Air France Drawing to offer champagne to passengers in each class. The new sommelier of the airline Xavier Thuizat – which is also the sommelier at Paris Crillon hotel – Tell me that they are going through more than a million bottles of champagne per year. As part of its upgrade of 7 billion pounds sterling, British Airways has doubled English sparkling wine. The prestigious cuvées available in first class in the coming months will include 1086 Rosé de Nyetimber and the fifty a degree from Gusbourne in the north, plus a new sparkling of Sugged dermot, a cult winemaker in the South Downs. On the Champagne Front, Ba also restored the excellent Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle.
Alcohol has been an integral part of the flight experience since the 1930s, when the first commercial lines went to the sky. In the middle of the 20th century, it had become an important point of difference between competing airlines. A first incarnation of the Royal Delta Air Lines service included champagne and free flow sofas; according to Flight flavor By author and pilot Al Bridger, British Airways offered customers from the 1950s a “flight of Champagne de Vol” with a Bordeaux champagne, a Burgundy champagne and Mumm Cordon Rouge.
In these rather darker moments, a single glass of champagne “may be the only thing people drink,” explains Charles Metcalfe, chief cellars in the sky, so an airline needs to count this glass. I certainly remember having been turned upside down by Krug's offer on a first class class Cave Flight to Japan. It is even more impressive, however, if the cabin crew also clearly knows their wines. The Emirates training program is one of the most rigorous. Its new course “L'Arts du Vin” at three levels sees the first class staff in the classifications of Bordeaux 1855 and the best Bordeaux vintages; They are also looking for food and wine, and wines, including Château d'Yquem, Ornellaia and Dom Pérignon P2.
Gusbourne fifty one degrees in the North 2016, available soon on British Airways
Dom Pérignon Plenitude 2 2003, Among Emirates' Offering
Private jet operator Flexion jet will make an additional effort and organize champagne tastings led by sommeliers for flight passengers. And with regard to food and wine, no combination is too weird. “We had very specific requests for champagne chords, including a tuna sandwich and a Masala chicken tikka,” said CEO Andrew Collins. Even at 35,000 feet, it seems, the customer is still right.
