A comment by Alyssa piqued my interest, last class. She mentioned that, in spite (or maybe because) of her love of wine, she stays away from in-flight wine lists, unless it's an absolute emergency.
Since many of us will be traveling these upcoming weeks, I decided to do some research on Airline´s wine lists, how they are crafted and why they are considered to be so bad.
If anything I wish to give you guys an idea of what airlines to trust or what wines to reach for if a wine emergency were to come up in your upcoming travels.
First, a little on logistic hurdles. Most airlines will need to work with large volumes, and in wine large volumes generally, are related to lower quality wines. Additionally, there are other concerns like maintaining wine at an adequate pouring temperature and providing the correct glassware (Gabriel Glas should get in on this!), or the inability to properly decant wine. Furthermore, some wine specialists note that our tasting capabilities are modified as consumers while we are flying: we taste more tannins in red wine and greater acidity on whites, and this is something airline supply buyers must keep in mind while choosing wine.
So I leave you with a List of Airlines with the Best Wine Lists, as determined by Condé Nast. I found this to be the most comprehensive list and it mentioned all of the airlines I found in other articles. It also has an added explanation on how they source their wine and what made them earn a particular spot on the list. It even gives a few suggestions of what they believe the best wines are on each list.
If you are lucky you might find yourself in some of their flights soon! Surprisingly American Airlines found a way to a top ranking, yet I was saddened to not see Aeromexico even mentioned in any article I found online - I will have to stick to sparkling water on my upcoming trip then!
https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-09-21/the-airlines-with-the-best-wine-lists-emirates-singapore-etihad
Very interesting! I remember being really surprised that when I learned that being at high altitude and in the low pressure environment of an airplane cabin completely changes our ability to taste food and drinks. Some additional fun facts in addition to what you mentioned above:
ReplyDelete- We lose some of our ability to smell when flying so, overall, foods tend to taste more bland when we fly (notably, packaged foods, which contain a lot of preservatives, tend to better maintain their flavor)
- Flying enhances umami flavors, so dishes with tomato, mushroom or seafood are likely to have stronger flavors in the air. That's why it's often common for airplane food to use tomato-based sauces.
- When planes are flying, humidity levels in the cabin plummet. At about 30,000 feet, humidity is less than 12% (which apparently is drier than most deserts). The combination of dryness and low pressure reduces the sensitivity of your taste buds to sweet and salty foods by around 30%.
- While we lose our ability to taste sweet/salty our perceptions of sour, bitter and spicy remain intact for the most part
- Commercial providers of meals to airlines have special research labs that reduce air pressure, simulating cruising at 35,000 feet (10.6km), as well as sucking moisture out of the air and even simulate engine noise, as it is believed that noise can also impact our perception of taste!
Source:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird