V-Flyer

And, although this as relevant to Y as J, I include fizz in that, in all its varieties
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What is important, quantity or quality or both?

Some say that certain wines don't fly well.....so would it disappoint if that wine you scoffed happily in UC (think of the price of the airfare????) only cost £5 a bottle in Walmart or similar?

This is in part prompted by the excellent Marshy11 suffering "the champagne has run out" on her recent UC trip to Antigua, although, on reflection, there are some who frequent this board who would actually see running out of Lanson as a blessing!!!
): ):

Wine and travel ... haven't had a good thread on this in ages y) .

Lanson, well it's not so bad is it. Yes in a perfect world it would be Pol Roger, but #firstworldproblem !

As an early V-Flyer I read the tales of trips by a certain Howard, now long gone (not to the sky, but the dark side I believe) ... when BBR had their outpost in T3 he'd purchase a half bottle or two of something nice and quaff it up high. A great lesson that I 'borrowed' a few times, that is until BBR in T3 shut down. I venture the wines in duty free are OK, but since I sweep past those in seconds I wouldn't know!

To answer, well BOTH of course . When you're familiar with the current wines you can ask for the one you like best, if not try all three (in UC of course - anywhere else just take what your given and hope it's better than Listerene.

It depends on the direction of travel, if it's out of LHR then I've had so many redheads then I could be given vimto and white spirit in a glass and enjoy it. Going to London I am a little more fussy, I have found the quality and palate of the wine very poor on VS of recent. I don't have an issue with Lanson, but the 'sparkling wine' in PE sealed the deal of me never entering that cabin again!

It also shocks me that with so few wines the cabin crew aren't able to pair/recommend. On one flight last time a gentleman asked if he could have a glass of red, never been into wine before but wanted to try. It took a FSM and CC member to fumble around for a menu, before reading and coming to the conclusion he should just have both 'as they don't know'. I ended up steering him to a malbec, as far as I can recall, which he enjoyed.

As long as they have diet pepsi, bottles of water I can handle a shortage of anything else.

Although you might not think it I would go for quality over quantity. Lanson isn't my champagne of choice but it's very drinkable. After a few glasses it tastes better! ):
We drink grey goose at home so to have it served at the bar is a plus.
As for the wine onboard, I'm with dubaiification, by the time I leave the clubhouse I'm ready for any sort of alcohol! I won't taste or savour it...and if it says Chardonnay on the bottle even better! )
Night flights "should" be for sleeping so the alcohol shouldn't matter as much as a day flight...unless you have a onesie party at the bar, then quantity is main factor! y)
Darren

Sadly I'm no connoisseur of champagne houses, but I'm learning slowly what I like. I don't mind Lanson and my understanding for it's choice on board VS flights is because the fermentation process apparently produces a wine that's palatable at 30,000+ feet. I don't know how true that is.

I think quantity and quality are important, especially in J or higher cabins where pax have probably shelled out a good deal more cash (unless of course they're clever miles collecting types who know how to bag seats in J for Y prices ): )

However, there has to be a cut off point doesn't there? I mean you can't just let pax go on drinking until they're so inebriated they can't stand or speak intelligibly.

That aside, for a product that is not budget and drinks / food is inclusive, there should be enough to go round and cater to all who wish to partake. I recently had CC stop serving Champagne in UC outbound about 7-8 hours into a flight to NRT because they had to preserve some stock for the return leg as they don't get topped up. The UC cabin was full and most of those drinking were drinking Champagne - what do you do?

Of course, as others have said, if you're in UC coming from London then you can easily get tanked up at the Clubhouse; I certainly get a bit tipsy, but I know when to stop drinking and to spread my drinking out over a long flight so that I at least arrive in my destination relatively sober.

That's my two penn'orth although I don't quite know if I've made any point. I should go back to work and get on with what I've been dodging for the past hour... :w :w

I didnt intend this to be VS specific.

Interestingly EY have a Food and Beverage Manager looking after the J cabin (primarily). I thought "yeah yeah", just another title. However they knew their stuff and were happy to really talk through the wine list. In fact, on one leg, the F&M recommended I try an Oz shiraz, Wyndham Estate's George Wyndham Founder's Reserve.

It was so nice that on arrival in OZ it was straight off to Dan Murphy's (a Majestic wine type thing but on a huge scale) for me to stock up, 18AUD (about £10) a bottle, a real steal. And I am pleased to say it wasn't just yummy at altitude.

And that made me wonder about the price of the wines served.

Further to Bretty's post, I recall the argument made on an onboard menu that Lanson was the ideal 'airplane' wine because it was the only major champagne to avoid malolactic fermentation, keeping it particularly crisp and acidic and countering the dulling of our tastebuds at altitude.

Now I'm no fan of Lanson ordinarily, so I do wonder if there is a great deal of truth to this, or if it's just a convenient argument to justify the fact they got a good deal here...

Any Masters of Wine that can comment here?

I pay homage to this timely and most excellent thread.....

I am a drinker, but only of white wine (NZSB) or champagne. Mr M is less fussy. I drink no spirits, perhaps the odd gassy beer on holiday but nothing more. However, I can and have savoured some rather revolting offerings on and off flights.....my neighbours perhaps being the biggest culprits in trying to sterilise my liver with unmentionables.....that aside.....I like fizz, but if I'm honest I favour Bolly first and a good cava second.

Lanson doesn't do it, but it's an acceptable contender. But given a menu on a flight with 4 drinks, 2 containing Lanson and thus being 'out of stock' is pretty dire in my book.

VS use Berry Bros. They do have some excellent 'house wines' from time to time and I've stocked up at home but others haven't been to my liking. I'm no sommelier but I like what I like.

And on a plane I like fizz.

Malolactic fermentation or whatever, this Vintage Veuve which EK serve on the LHR/DXB/LHR flights is absolutely delicious at 40,000 feet and at ground level!

marshy11 wrote:I pay homage to this timely and most excellent thread....

ii) ii) ii) ii)

I could have sworn I had Krug Grande Cuvée on ANA and Perrier Jouët Belle Epoque on Korean Air...but I had quite a lot of both, so I can't be sure. Hmm...

However, a quick bit of research - http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/ ... champagne/ - and it turns out that I remembered correctly!

Almost I hesitate to say wine is important on a flight, lest I be thought a lush. But it is.

The flight to me is unwind time. At last I'm free of phone/mobile/emails beseeching me to do this or that before I vanish for a month or so. Am I alone in dreading the time when phones can be used on a flight? Imagine all the braying idiots "I'm on the plane". Spare me.

By the time we get on the plane, we've got this far so we've remembered passports, OH has got through security without being squirrelled off to a separate room (scary, he gets this all the time because he pounded down the wicket as an (amateur) opening bowler for too many years and now has two artificial knees).

So I can kick back and enjoy a glass of champagne, followed maybe by a glass of white or another glass of fizz while I peruse the menu. Food may not be Michelin, what do you expect at 30,000+ feet, but somebody else is pouring the wine, washing the glass, sorting the menu, presenting the food, etc.

Yes of course you can buy it for less - that's no different to any place you dine out, they all have to make a profit or go out of business.

I was shocked at Marshy11's TR. It's not acceptable that they run out. We're not out to get trollied, we're not on a stag/hen weekend, we just want to enjoy a quiet meal. Quality? Yes, you want it to taste good, I'd rather the fizz was Louis Roederer but then I'm picky and I accept what comes - but I'd be furious if it didn't, so quantity counts as well, but I'm way beyond the age when I'm likely to drink too much so quantity in reason, enough that reasonably moderate drinkers are not disappointed and of sufficient quality/taste that we're happy.

I like wine .... especially a quite quaffable Argentinian Malbec - think there is one on the current menu actually

joeyc wrote:I like wine .... especially a quite quaffable Argentinian Malbec - think there is one on the current menu actually

Hope it's still on a week on Sunday...just the thing!

It was my first UC experience that led to my love of Pinotage...

pjh wrote:

joeyc wrote:I like wine .... especially a quite quaffable Argentinian Malbec - think there is one on the current menu actually

Hope it's still on a week on Sunday...just the thing!

It was my first UC experience that led to my love of Pinotage...

Another Argie Malbec lover here ! y)

Bretty wrote:
However, there has to be a cut off point doesn't there? I mean you can't just let pax go on drinking until they're so inebriated they can't stand or speak intelligibly.

I never knew we were on a flight together? Lol...surely that's why we have beds onboard?

Btw john, the roederer you posted was delicious! You have very good taste! Thank you!

Veuve is my champagne of choice...(just incase there are "viewers") they should serve Veuve in the CH and onboard! y)

I fly to get there.
I drink what is offered; a glass before take off, Lanson or Prosecco depending which cabin I've bagged; a pre-meal white wine (chardonnay if it's available); and a glass of red with the meal (Merlot would be my preference).
As long as it's a decent wine, and it always has been, that's ok with me. If I was in Upper and they told me they had run out of Champagne and I had to have Prosecco that would be fine. (Unlikely to happy as I only have bubbly on the ground.)
I like to get off the plane sober as there is still a bit to do.
So in answer, quantity is not important to me.
Quality, if it scores 8 out of ten that's ok.
Dick D

ultreen1 wrote:

Bretty wrote:
However, there has to be a cut off point doesn't there? I mean you can't just let pax go on drinking until they're so inebriated they can't stand or speak intelligibly.

I never knew we were on a flight together? Lol...surely that's why we have beds onboard?

Btw john, the roederer you posted was delicious! You have very good taste! Thank you!

Veuve is my champagne of choice...(just incase there are "viewers") they should serve Veuve in the CH and onboard! y)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, it was a Demi-sec wasn't it, so a little sweeter than usual? I've not tried Veuve knowingly.

Interesting thread,

Now over the last cole of years, have indulged fairly consistently in VS's wine selection. Big wine drinkers, proper northerner types, not hung up on specifics, mainly I know what I like". Now having travelled through to NZ with Cathay (CX) an airline not often referenced on here.
When I first got the menu's (and actual Amenity kit of substance) I thought, this is a slim selection.... (wines),ports and spirits quite extensive. However having worked through the selection over two extensive legs ): the whites were substantially stand out compared to VS and the Reds memorable and comforting rather than a basket full of meh...

northernhenry wrote:However having worked through the selection over two extensive legs ): the whites were substantially stand out compared to VS and the Reds memorable and comforting rather than a basket full of meh...

And, as you know Mike, I have been impressed by both the EK and EY offerings, including in the real testing ground, the Economy plonk.

And I know you are busy in NZ but I would love to read a TR on Cathay; pricewise they are in the frame for my Christmas ABD to OZ.
y)

This was the drinks menu on our flight out/back recently.

HWVlover wrote:

northernhenry wrote:However having worked through the selection over two extensive legs ): the whites were substantially stand out compared to VS and the Reds memorable and comforting rather than a basket full of meh...

And, as you know Mike, I have been impressed by both the EK and EY offerings, including in the real testing ground, the Economy plonk.

And I know you are busy in NZ but I would love to read a TR on Cathay; pricewise they are in the frame for my Christmas ABD to OZ.
y)

Yep confined to iPad until container arrives and househunting taking priority currently.
Will see if I can get a potted insight done.

From Champers, whites and reds, it has to be:

Verve, Sancerre, Merlot --- all in copious ammounts