High flying wines

If you asked me how high can wine take you, I wouldn’t be able to answer that. But if you ask me how high you could take wine, I would tell you exactly how much: 40,000 ft to be precise. That is about how high planes cruise and that is about as high you should be flying with stemware.

But drinking wine on a plane is very different from drinking on terra firma. Relative humidity, temperature and air exchange rate on a plane is very different from your house or favourite restaurant.

Which then makes choosing wines for service on-board quite a different game altogether. The rules are nothing similar and expertise and experience are needed to figure out how a wine which tastes good down here would taste up there.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Singapore Airlines to see what makes them the best at what they do best: fly and serve. For one, they seem to be the only airline who haven’t lost focus on their core competency; still flying planes while maximising comfort for fliers as opposed to owning limousine services or golf courses.

Please don’t think I am promoting. Even if I am, it is for a reason. I came away terribly impressed as to how these guys choose what we eat and drink in-flight. A team of chefs decides the food but what got me excited was the panel of wine judges who select the wines for service on board.

Now any panel that has names like Steven Spurrier (acclaimed wine writer and critic), Michael Hill Smith (legendary Aussie winemaker and Master of Wine) and Jeannie C Lee (Asian MW) could suggest me any wine and I would drink it; these people can be trusted with your nose tied behind your back. It was interesting to see them work their way through almost a 1000 wines to choose a handful that would be served aboard the first, business and economy service of Singapore Airlines.

This is what I gathered. “As the air is drier, our nasal passage tends to dry up so we may be less sensitive to smells,” shared Michael, “so our focus is to look for wines which have a good aroma profile.” “Quantity of production also is a concern as the airline serves 2.2 million bottles on board annually!”  Jeannie educated me. Finally, Steven, when asked how they paired the wines with the food served, in his ever-effervescent yet terse humour replied, “I believe less in wine and food and more in wine and mood. It is impossible to pair the dishes given the number of flights, the different dishes and special meals and the logistics behind the different wines which are served across flights.”

So, the verdict: well, during my flight I loved the light fruity Riesling that they served. I didn’t bother much with tasting notes; suffice to say it was yummy. Stretched out in cosy darkness, utterly distracted by the in-flight entertainment, trying to squeeze in as many movies as I could into my five hours of cellphone-free bliss, the wine and food became less prominent; fading to the slight background as essential and stalwart supports to my overall enjoyment. All the days of tasting and debating seemed irrelevant to me as I sat there taking it all in effortlessly, unaware of all the deliberation behind my each sip and bite. Could all this selection then be done with less effort and fuss: Sure it could, but then that’s not how you become the trendsetter in your industry.