Flights of wine, wines in flight…
First off, thanks to the good Doctor for handing over his practice during his days of fun in the sun. It’s a privilege.
On to the vino…
Besides wine, I tend to obsess over travel. On January 17, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about the disappearance of free drinks on board commercial airplanes, especially on carriers based in the United States, and the declining quality of the wine in flight, even in premium classes. (article by subscription only):
In first and business classes, where drinks are still free, the quality and quantity is dropping aboard some carriers: Starting this past June, US Airways stopped serving Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which costs about $70, to its international business class passengers. Now, its classiest red-wine option is a Wente Syrah, which retails for about $13.
This reminds me of a recent flight on United Airlines from Paris to Chicago. We upgraded to business class, and the printed menus included the list of wines available, with tasting notes. One wine in particular caught my eye. The Jean-Luc Colombo white Cotes du Rhone Les Abeilles 2002 was described:
Complex, crisp and well-balanced, it is an incredible value.
Umm, I’m all for buying wines with a lot of bang for the buck, but do you think the customers who actually paid $5000 for a business class ticket enjoy knowing that their airline got a great deal?
At least that wine was better than the 187ml bottles of plonk that were being served (for $5 each) in economy. Paging United’s sommelier Doug Frost! Is a 2002 Brook Hollow Cabernet Sauvignon the best you can come up with? A quick Google search yielded this stellar review from the Compleat Wine Geek (note the price for a full 750ml!):
Brook Hollow Cabernet Sauvignon California 2002 ($3). Okay, we’re back to the Kool-Ade theme. Smells like cherry fruit punch with a hint of cotton candy and cinnamon tossed in for good measure. Clean, crisp, and utterly devoid of character, it gives the impression of having had everything interesting filtered out of it. Gives insipid factory wine a bad name, the worst of the lot. [Buy again? No.]
There may be a solution, though. The FAA requires that flight attendants serve any alcohol on board, so you’re not supposed to pour from your own flask. But if you come on board with a bottle of wine and ask the flight attendant to serve it to you, that’s legal, as long as the airline’s policy permits. JetBlue is singled out in the article as permitting this as a matter of policy. But I’ve heard of other airlines doing it too, so it’s worth a shot if you want to assure yourself of a quality pour.
And there’s no corkage fee. Yet.
tags: wine | food and drink | wine and travel | airlines
On January 21st, 2006 at 11:03 pm ,Jack wrote:
My understanding is that airlines like American aren’t paying at all for the wine on their flights, including in first class. It’s all free/promo stuff to them, so they couldn’t care how bad the wine is.
I also understand that you have to be business or first class to get a stewardess to take and pour your bottle during the flight. (A nice gentleman treated me to a bottle he bought in Napa on my last flight here!)
On January 23rd, 2006 at 9:41 pm ,FreeWine wrote:
Jack — I’m told by colleagues that you can ask for wine to be served to you in any class, not just in business or first. After all, JetBlue only has economy seating. So it should work on other airlines in coach, at least in theory.
As for the wine being free/promo, I’m going to address that in a separate post.