Air Canada wine

[Navajo-dude]

Simple question.

I recently was a pax on an Air Canada flight, and decided to have some wine.

Imagine my surprise when, despite some fantastic wines available from Ontario or B.C., I was served French wine!

Why wouldn't Air Canada support Canada's wine industry? Why France?

[hazatude]

Because all people involved in aviation management are corrupt and filthy.

[dxprguy]

Which consiquently would also make them Liberals.

[BusDriver]

French wine is cheaper and more widely available than our Canadian derived filth. I love Canada, but not our wine.

[golden hawk]

I'm enjoying a glass of Mission Hill from B.C. - excellent wine!

[hazatude]

French wine is cheaper and more widely available than our Canadian derived filth. I love Canada, but not our wine.

Dude you speak lies. Niagara wine is amongst the finest on Earth.

[yycflyguy]

French wine is cheaper and more widely available than our Canadian derived filth. I love Canada, but not our wine.

Dude you speak lies. Niagara wine is amongst the finest on Earth.

Niagra wines are only good served on pancakes..... and imagine my disgust when I ordered french fries and they served idaho potato tater tots!

[Expat]

Ho dude,

Next time, try first class. May be will have Niagara wine there...

[shankdown]

I've heard people bitch about all sorts of things about Air Canada. But I've never heard of anyone going out of their way to track things down to bitch about. If you're cranky about the WINE they serve, they must have done all the important things right. At least they give you the option of having wine. Other airlines in Canada don't give that to you. They're getting set to hire 650 pilots. For that I'm excited and willing to cut them some slack on a variety of levels. You should too. You might be working there sooner than you think, and you'll feel rather ashamed for having picked on them.

My2C. Shizzle.

[Expat]

You are right shankdown,

Uzbek Airways have only juice. You bring your own vodka.

[Rubberbiscuit]

My favorite Canadian wine is Inniskillin. But I guess that would be a little expensive to use for calming flying nerves.

[Navajo-dude]

So, if Air Canada hires those 650 pilots from France, no one will object?

[Longtimer]

Simple question.

I recently was a pax on an Air Canada flight, and decided to have some wine.

Imagine my surprise when, despite some fantastic wines available from Ontario or B.C., I was served French wine!

Why wouldn't Air Canada support Canada's wine industry? Why France?

Air Canada's wine cellar has been acclaimed as one of the finest of any airline in the world.

Wines offered on our flights are selected by the Air Canada Wine Council, a panel of three renowned wine critics: Michael Phaneuf from Montréal, Tony Aspler from Toronto, and Vancouver's Tony Gismondi.

These experts hold an annual blind tasting to choose Old World and New World wines of exceptional character, including the best from Canada's grape-growing regions.

We are pleased to offer our Executive First customers a varied selection of wines on all international flights, including:

Champagne
Old and New World Red Wines
Old and New World White Wines
Canadian Red Wines
Canadian White Wines
Late Bottled Vintage Port

Our wine list includes extensive descriptions and suggested pairings with your meal.

We present new still wines from our cellar every six months and new champagnes, sparkling wines and port every twelve months.

Hospitality
Enjoy a selection of spirits available for $5.00CAD or $4.00US



Alcoholic



Liquor
Dubonnet
Iceberg/Smirnoff Vodka*
London Dry Gin
Justerini & Brooks Rare Scotch
Canadian Club Whiskey
Jack Daniel's Whiskey
Bacardi White Rum
Cheminaud Brandy
Kahlua
Drambuie
Bailey’s Irish Cream


Beer
Molson Canadian
Labatt Blue
Sleeman Cream Ale
Coors Lite
Kokanee (Canadian regional West)
Moosehead (Canadian regional East)
Asahi (flights to Osaka)
Hite (flights to Seoul)
Heineken (flights to Hong Kong)
Bitburger Pils (flights to Frankfurt or Munich)
Furstenberg (flights to Frankfurt or Munich)
Carlsberg (flights to Copenhagen)

Wine
Domaine Paul Mas White
Domaine Paul Mas Red
Sauvignon Blanc Galil White (on flights to Tel Aviv)
Carmel Merlot Red Private Collection 1997(on flights to Tel Aviv)
Dry Sake - Kiku-Masamune

*May not be available on all flights

[golden hawk]

Air Canada's wine cellar has been acclaimed as one of the finest of any airline in the world.

"Acclaimed" by whom?

[Yoyoma]

I can't believe bandaid hasn't jumped on that one yet???

My favourite wines are French wines. But they run at about 250 Euros a bottle. So you can safely assume that I don't drink them with dinner every night!

But as far as Canada goes, we have a wonderful selection of wines, and the price Vs quality ratio is unbeatable, IMHO...Argentina has some good rich wines as well. That and their reputation for having the finest steaks in the world makes it tempting to go over for a meal!!

[bandaid]

Yoyoma, Ouch!!!!!
I love our wines here in B.C. and have toured the Niagara region and have really enjoyed many a bottle of wine from those parts. I have worked in the wine industry here on my days off in the capacity of a tour guide for 7 years. As a result I get the occassional bottle handed me for product knowledge . I think that I have a fairly good idea of what is being offered here, I know most of the awards our wines are winning world wide, and I know the passion those producing wine around here have for the industry and the success of our region. In a nutshell, without success their is no industry.
All that being said, if I were running a business where I had to offer a decent wine at a decent price, it wouldn't be a Canadian wine. You can buy a $7 bottle of wine from places Like Mission Hill, Kelowna wines and Jackson and Triggs, but you definately get what you pay for, A none VQA wine that would ruin even the toughest of cuts of meat. We cannot compete with the companies out of Europe, Australia.... Your talking about hugh wineries that produce millions of bottles of wine that they can afford to sell at a much lower price period. It would be nice if our "national Carrier" offered Canadian wine but lets face it, if you had to pay $10 dollars for a glass of wine served "most likely" in plastic cups, you would be having the Budweiser.

[wollypilot]

I forget which airline I was flying on but they served up a red wine with the pretzels that showed dogs playing poker on the label. Pretty good especially with as couple ice cubes in the glass to cool it off. If I remember the one dog was showing a full house.
Cheers,wp.

[BusDriver]

HAZ, you claim our wines are among the finest in the world. Nice claim, try to buy a bottle of Canadian wine somewhere other than Canada. Last time I was in Paris I ventured into a "Continent" to look for some wine to bring home. Surprisingly, I came across a Canadian wine section: it was the bottom shelf at the back of the store, on the shelf were 3 dusty bottles of Inniskillan. And they were twice the price of a comparable Euro or Australian bottle.

Everyone has there own tastes, so enjoy your Ontario born wine. But as an A/C passenger I would expect a nice Bordeaux with my crappy meal!

My 2Cents. [/quote]

[bandaid]

Well Fluck,
Good for you, you're a world traveller. The fact you found Canadian wines in Europe amazes me, they don't want them there. The only way that canadian wines were able to get into europe was by the bigger wineries here buying distribution companies there to import their products. Europe protects their wine industry, America protects theirs. I have had people from the states and europe out on tours that would truely love to buy some of our wines and have them shipped home but that just isn't allowed. We on the other hand welcome wines from all over the world. Truth is, we made very bad wines up until the late eighties. I could go into the history of what happened then but lets just say things improved. Come to Kelowna with an open mind, and lets go touring the region, I think that I could convince you of this. Man, wine is such a complex topic, so many things effect the production of a bottle. I once said the same things you are. The only thing that now turns me off about some of our wines here is the price, but they sell out every year so people are buying despite that.

[Rebel]

Very interesting thread, I wonder how many of you know that only certain wines are suitable for airline use due to the altitude and general airplane atmosphere and your taste buds. The wine that you may think is fabulous on the aircraft is not going to taste the same on the ground and vis-a-versus. Therefore wines are very selectively chosen bearing this in mind.

Actually I’m drinking a designer beer by Alley Kat right now. It’s only available in God’s country (AB) right now, pity..

[desksgo]

I prefer wine coolies myself, and champagne, no no, the bubbles tickle my mustache.

Regards,


Glenn

[Rubberbiscuit]

I was wondering when you were going to take that paper bag off!

[Redwine]

My dream flight begins with the wine selection: “We’d like to direct your attention to the wine list in the seat pocket in front of you. You’ll note we have a fine selection of first-growth Bordeaux at the rear of the plane (using the double-arm, two-finger signal), 40-year vintage port is being decanted in the middle aisles and, for our first-class passengers, a vertical of Chateau d’Yquem 1945 through 1960, at the front of the plane. At any time during this flight, should you run out of wine, it is imperative that you help yourself before assisting other passengers. This will help reduce overall cabin pressure and the stress of your post-merger flight crew. We realize that you no longer have a choice of airlines, but drink up, and we’re sure that we’ll all forget about those terminal delays and lost luggage that can really annoy anyone sober.”
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Perhaps my silver-winged sybaritic dream is a stretch, but airline wine is the one aspect of flying that’s no longer a potshot target. In fact, wine lists have improved, fueled by more savvy customers in a fiercely competitive worldwide industry. Airlines often have the same equipment, routes, fares and frequent flyer programs, so food and wine are one of the few ways to express individuality. That’s why there are more premium brands on board including Starbucks coffee, Godiva chocolates, Ben & Jerry ice cream and meals created by celebrity chefs.
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Indeed, British Airways’ research shows that the closer we get to flying, the more important food and wine become. When booking our ticket, it’s only the sixth most important factor. However, when we’re standing in line at the gate to board, it’s number two after the attitude of the flight crew.
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But let’s not kid ourselves about anyone choosing an airline because of the wine (Ticket agent: “That’ll be $3,456 for the wine, plus we’ll throw in a return trip to California.”). That said, we’re no longer happy to drink a $6 bottle that devours .001 percent of our fare.
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Ten years ago, that wasn’t uncommon. Wine selection was based mostly on price, and often the same wine was served year after year, even in bad vintages. You could chose from one undrinkable French white wine or one undrinkable French red wine, stuff that Peter Nixson of British Airways calls “cheap and nasty.”
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Most of us just want something pleasantly palatable to release the tension of running to the gate with a 30-pound shoulder bag and high heels, or to forget the big guy snoring next to us who has just rolled his head on to our shoulder. Getting a wine to taste delicious at 30,000 feet isn’t easy though. After a few hours, we get dehydrated. Alcohol’s dehydrating effect compounds this, and we lose up to 30 percent of our ability to taste. Wine’s aromas are flattened, and any element that’s out of balance such as tannin or acidity is emphasized. The wine hasn’t changed, we have.
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British Airways once invited several wine writers to blind taste a group of wines at the Heathrow airport, more wines while flying aboard the Concorde to Barbados and then another set of wines once in a hotel in Barbados, where the poor souls completed their grueling day. They unanimously judged the best wines were the ones in the Barbados, followed by those at Heathrow and then those tasted while flying. Turns out, of course, the same wines were served in all three tastings.
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Before the wine even gets onboard, it must survive the labyrinthine logistics of thousands of flights and destinations. Ken Chase, who consults to Delta, admits to doing strange things with wine, such as heating, chilling and shaking it, to ensure that the wine can withstand the cooking on the tarmac in Mexico or being rickshawed through bumpy streets in Bangkok. Will the wine still perform in your glass after it’s been rerouted through Iceland? Fortunately, most airlines have a network of temperature-controlled warehouses where they build the bar carts. British Airways, for example, has sixty bar-building stations around the world.
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Then there are the impoverished tools of airline wine service: proper stemware and crystal decanters are out of the question given storage constraints and glass breakage, leaving us with those little plastic pill cups. Both British Airways and United Airlines are developing specially designed tasting glasses with shorter stems and better shape to concentrate the aromas. To compensate for the pressurized cabins, British Airways has also created its own blend of champagne that’s bottled at a lower pressure. But that still leaves cramped quarters and turbulence. (Would you like a little more claret on your shirt sir?)
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The other part of wine service is the server. It’s reassuring to know that wine training is rather low on the priority list for flight crew given the situations they face. (Would you really want them distracting hijackers with overoaked chardonnays?) However, most airlines squeeze in a few hours on wine training. Beyond that, they use in-flight wine guides with tasting notes, pronunciations and food matches.
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British Airways further encourages staff to seek outside training by paying for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s certificate program. The 1,000 attendants who have passed the exam are awarded sommelier status on board, with a lapel pin indicating that they can answer passenger wine questions. The most rigourous training is Delta’s in-house Vinum Wine Academy: a seven-day course covering food and wine that runs from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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Working with these constraints, airline wine buyers look for fat, fruit-forward wines from Australia, southern France, Chile and California, rather than delicate or old wines. Aside from being reasonably priced, these wines have to be available in massive quantities. United buys 400,000 cases annually while Air Canada purchases 60,000 cases (smaller airlines can shop from smaller, quality producers).
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To make their final selections, some airlines feature the wines made in their home country while others offer route-specific choices so that passengers get a taste of the destination when they board the plane. Air Canada serves red and white kosher wines en route to Tel Aviv, saké when flying to Asian destinations.
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United offers wines that passengers can find easily at home. Canadian’s program takes the opposite approach, serving wines that passengers can’t buy on the ground -- wineries must agree not to sell the airline’s selections in Canada. In fact, Ken Chase boasts that several wines first featured on Canadian’s wine list were in such demand from passengers that the wines are now regularly listed in Canadian wine stores.
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Many airlines use an outside tasting panel to make the final choices. The enological literati advises British Airways: Hugh Johnson, Michael Broadbent and Jancis Robinson (who says in her memoir that after gushing about being invited to participate on such an august panel, she received the deflating explanation from the British Airways rep: “Well, we thought we needed a woman.”).
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Robinson also says that panel tasting has the smudging effect of eliminating distinctive wine given that someone in the group is likely not to like an extreme style. This drags wine choices into the “innocuous middle ground of communal assessment” to please everyone, which is ideal for airlines, but not for wine lovers who are better off following one critic they trust.
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Of course, the most distinctive wine is served in business and first class. The crème de la crème is British Airways’ Concorde Cellar which consists of mature, cru classé red Bordeaux, grand and premier cru red and white Burgundy and a cuvée champagne. The cellar holds ten years’ selections for aging. Benchmark wines fill the list such as Krug, Heidsieck, Pol Roger and Dom Pérignon, the latter of which the airline is the single largest buyer in the world. The airline also features the best of the New World such as Penfolds Grange, Opus One and Kistler. The difference between the Concorde and first class service is one of maturity: the same wines are poured, but those on the Concorde have been cellared longer. While most airlines change their wine list as they deplete inventory, British Airways changes its Concorde wine list every month and is considering a weekly rotation given the frequency with which its customers travel (or, at this point, used to travel).
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To recognize excellence in airline wine lists, Business Traveler magazine sponsors an annual competition called Cellars in the Sky. This year’s winner, Finnair, spends two-thirds of its wine budget on business class, which still only accounts for about 4% of a business class ticket. The airline stocks an average of 600 different labels in its cellars. Top-ranked carriers after Finnair included Aeromexico, Delta Airlines, Thai Airways, Virgin Atlantic, EVA Airways, Spainair, Continental Airlines, Altalia and LanChile.
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For wineries, getting on airline lists not only means revenues that don’t eat into ground sales, it’s also an international sampling program. Australian winemaker Wolf Bass recognized the promotion potential early on, and held wine tasting sessions with captive first-class audiences whenever he flew. He was also known to have himself paged frequently in airport lounges so that his name was top-of-mind with duty-free shoppers.
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Even with these changes, we aren’t exactly in the Golden Age of airline wine. But we can expect to see the quality improve, with less conservative choices. British Airways, for example, is experimenting with organic wines, Alsatian rieslings, Romanian reds, Austrian pinot blancs and recently, a red Loire wine that “went down an absolute storm” with passengers.
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The airlines also plan to package more information with their wines. This may mean watching a short video on the wines being served, perhaps an expert tasting session (which gives new meaning to flights of wine) or a travel piece on the region where the wines were produced. This may also extend to interactive web-based sessions, where passengers can explore information on the wines as deeply as they desire. Delta already includes its wine list on its site, and in its wine guide, reviews several wine web sites for “cybersipping”.
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If you want great wine these days you don’t have to fly thousands of miles to get it, you can sip it en route. Now if they could just fix the stuff that can ruin a good glass claret.

[Rebel]

Fantastic, if you don’t mind I plan on forwarding this tid-bit to my friends..

[bandaid]

Redwine,
I agree with everything that you have stated and would only add again that when we talk the volume of wine that an airline would need to run a year we eliminate many of our domestic wine makers, we simply don't produce enough. That is also the reason why you don't find many 3+ years old domestic wines on the shelves at Canadian liquor stores. When you buy Canadian wines you have to taste with the potential of the wine after a few years of proper cellering in mind. One other small thing to note is that wine does not travel well. I always buy at least two bottles of a wine I like, one to drink and one to celler. The wine can actually change in taste on the trip home, you need to let it sit for a minimum of three months after it travels.