Features

Cellars in the Sky Awards 2004

1 Dec 2004 by business traveller
Our annual wine awards aim to celebrate the quality of wines served in the sky. Here Business Traveller and Wine International reveal this year's results. The Business Traveller wine awards first appeared in 1985, writes Tom Otley. Since that date we have tried to champion the best wines served in business and first class by the world's airlines. This year was the biggest tasting ever attempted, and also the first to be organised in conjunction with the experts at Wine International magazine, organisers of the world-respected International Wine Challenge (IWC). Why are airline wines important? Well, to provide some perspective, we don't believe they are as important to business travellers as an airline's safety record or their reputation for punctuality. And as we have suggested before, having a comfortable seat is pretty important too. But whatever the health implications of drinking during a flight (and there can't be many business travellers who don't understand the importance of moderation), a good glass of wine while travelling is a pleasure worth publicising, and these awards are our ontribution to that process. The process was a complex one, not least since many of the wines had to be sent from the airline depots around the world, and it was a rare day that we didn't receive a phone call from a bonded warehouse on a secure industrial estate somewhere close to Heathrow, inquiring just who was going to pay the duty on the wines. In addition, there was the question of how we could ensure that the wine tasting was conducted as fairly as possible. For that reason, for the first time, we joined up with the Wine International team, who have extensive experience with large-scale tastings. We wanted to judge the best first and business class wines. Why did we not include economy? Logistically, this was by far the biggest Cellar in the Sky Awards we had attempted, and we felt that including economy class wines might have proved unworkable ?- though after the success of this year we will be reviewing this. Secondly, because of budgetary considerations on the part of the airlines, it is in business and first that the choice of wines becomes truly interesting. There is real skill in choosing affordable but drinkable wines for economy class, and the same teams choose these wines as are involved in selecting wines for business and first (so to some extent, we are judging those who choose the wines for all classes). I don't think we have lost out in excluding economy wines this year, but to counter any accusations of elitism, we can say that we will be seriously considering including them in next year's awards. THE RULES We invited more than 70 airlines to supply wines that they felt best reflected the quality of wine they serve on board. Not only that, but the wine chosen should be representative of the selection available to travellers. This meant that airlines could not choose a wine they felt was of superior quality if it was only served in small quantities on a few specific routes. In both business and first class, airlines could enter just one wine in the categories of best red, best white, best sparkling and best fortified. Another category was the ?wild card?, in which airlines could supply a wine that they were particularly proud of, or which was a good reflection of the wines in their home country and demonstrated their innovation in selecting wine. The wild cards were not judged individually, but were used to help determine the overall best wine cellar in each class. The airlines were free to enter as many or as few categories as they wished, with the only stipulation being that those wishing to be considered for the prize of ?best overall cellar? must enter at least a red, white and sparkling wine. Finally, airlines were asked to supply a copy of their wine lists in both classes, which were judged on their originality and were also considered when deciding the finest overall cellars. Thirty airlines participated in the competition and those that declined did so for various reasons. Some felt the logistics of delivery were insurmountable, while others admitted that their wine was not the aspect of their service of which they were most proud. In some cases it was because their on-board products ? including both food and wine ? were in the process of being upgraded. THE TASTING SAMANTHA CAPORN, tastings co-ordinator of Wine International. The wines were delivered to Grosvenor House Hotel in London, where, over two days, a team of masters of wine and Wine International experts assessed them. They were flighted, or categorised, according to class and then subdivided into sparkling, white, red and fortified or sweet. They were tasted according to country and region, with the lighter, cooler-climate wines tasted first, and all were tasted blind to avoid any element of bias. The wines were scored on a scale of 100, with each judge asked to bear in mind that acidity and tannins are accentuated by the air. If there were any quality issues (for example, questions over whether a wine was entirely clean; perhaps it was corked), then a new bottle was opened and tasted. Once the judges had finished tasting a particular flight (such as first class whites), they evaluated their scores together, retasting and assessing the wines where necessary until a final score was agreed on. As Beverley Blanning MW explained, "We judged the wines on their merits but awarded extra marks if we felt the wines would taste especially good at altitude. For this tasting, we were looking for wines with good fruit that were not excessively tannic.?" With the final scores decided, it just remained for us to tear off the plastic bags concealing the wines and find out which airlines were the official wine buffs of this year's Cellars in the Sky.   THE RESULTS So how did the wines fare? Did they impress the judges overall? Beverley Blanning said, ?It's important to remember that these wines are, on the whole, not very expensive ? that is, in relation to the extra price of the airline ticket,? and she adjusted her expectations accordingly. However, she ?was impressed by the overall quality of the sparkling wines, many of which had lovely richness and yeastiness that would perform well at altitude.? The judges found that some categories were very consistent in terms of quality, while others were much more varied. Sam Harrop MW said: "?The overall quality of the first-class wines submitted, especially the Burgundy and Bordeaux, did not reach my own lofty expectations," but he felt that there had been some "super" individual wines. Peter McCombie MW confessed he was "disappointed by the quality of the red wines," and felt that too many airlines were buying tight, tannic European wines. According to McCombie, "The reality is that way up there, good-quality new-world wines probably deliver the goods more consistently." Blanning said: "The whites were a very mixed bag," and noted that in both the business and first class categories, this is where the majority of poor wines were found - not corked but oxidised and tired. However, she found that on the whole, the assorted fortified and sweet wines were good. And despite any reservations, all of the judges agreed that this was a fascinating tasting. The judges
  • RICHARD BAMPFIELD MWis a specialist in corporate wine events.
  • Beverley Blanning MWis a wine writer.
  • Julien Brind MWis a wine consultant for Waitrose Ltd.
  • Samantha Capornis tastings co-ordinator of Wine International.
  • Sam Harrop MWis an industry consultant.
  • Robert Josephis publishing editor of Wine International.
  • Peter McCombie MWis a restaurant wine consultant.
  • Charles Metcalfeis associate editor of Wine International.
  • Liz Robertson MWis an independent consultant.
  • Derek Smedley MWis a wine consultant.
  • Simon Woodsis an author and the First Taste columnist for Wine International.
Click here for a rundown of the results and the judges' verdicts on the winners
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