C E L L A RS IN THE SKY AWA RDS When it came to scoring the bottles, the judges
tended to agree on their verdicts, trusting each other’s expertise. If there was any dispute they would amicably taste them again and find reason to compromise. “For me, that’s the joy of collegiate tasting. You feed off each other and that’s a really positive thing,” McCombie noted. Disagreement can also be constructive, with the judges “engaging with the wine a bit more deeply”, according to Abbott.
WHAT THE JUD GES LOOK FOR Tis competition requires a slightly different approach to judging wines, as our experts are tasked with discovering bottles that perform well at 35,000 feet and offer great balance and structure. For this reason, particular wines may not always receive the same adulation as they might in other contests, which oſten focus on the potential for them to develop and improve over time. Cellars in the Sky is all about “looking for pleasure now”, as Metcalfe put it. Te judges have to ask themselves how much a wine is going to satisfy business and first class passengers during a finite journey. More expressive and fruity wines seem to do the trick
in dryer atmospheres on board. White wines tend to fare better as reds are high in tannins, which aren’t well suited to the air. To be considered contenders, red wines should have “tannins that are even more gentle than they would be on the ground, and acidity not too high”, Metcalfe said. Traditional Bordeaux reds are
oſten selected by airlines as they are produced in large quantities and tend to please passengers who expect a “top-class” label. Te issue, however, is that they don’t have the friendliest of tannins. Tat said, Bordeaux wines can, and do, still claim top prizes, with a “very classy” 2009 vintage from Qatar Airways winning the award for Best First Class Red. “[It] comes from a vintage that is not only 11 years old but a ripe, warm vintage whose tannins have soſtened more quickly than others,” Metcalfe said. Tis brings us to one of the main
challenges faced by carriers, which is that first and business class flyers oſten expect to see a prestigious wine on board yet may be unaware that it doesn’t perform quite as well in the air. “We’ve oſten said that we would like to see greater diversity of wine styles that are specifically better suited to the air,” Atkin said. “We always come up against this kind of snobbery factor. Tat’s one of the things airlines are balancing, as well as massive budget strains.” Abbott added: “[Carriers] tend to act like ‘in the air’ supermarkets so they’re all set up
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om MAY/JUNE 20 2 1
for efficiency, provisioning and logistics, whereas in fact their customers in business and first class think of them as luxury hotels in the sky. Te challenge for airlines is to adopt the kind of sourcing mentality that a top restaurant, hotel or sommelier does."
FUT URE CHALLENGE S With airlines facing huge financial strain, one wonders what effect this will have on wine selections in the next few years. Cuts will be essential, and it may be that food and drink bear some of the brunt. What do the judges think about this? “Because
we’re wine lovers, we would argue that for some customers there’s a big plus in knowing that [an airline] is going to have good wines,” McCombie said. Abbott noted that passengers wouldn’t want “these kind of transcendent luxury experiences” to disappear any time soon. Perhaps a compromise can be found? Metcalfe
imagines that airlines will continue to buy high-class sparkling wines. “It makes an initial great impression. If you see that [the glass] comes from a posh bottle of champagne, that reassures the passenger that they have bought the right ticket.” Most important, however, in a year that was
The circumstances might have changed but the quality of the wines was as high as ever
incredibly difficult for the aviation industry, the judges were delighted that carriers continued to take part in the competition. And, with that, here are the bottles that impressed them the most. Our congratulations to the winners and sincere thanks to all of the airlines that entered.
43
→
BELOW: Tim Atkin, Peter McCombie and Sarah Abbott INSET: Charles Metcalfe joined in via Zoom
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
