businesstraveller.com MARCH 2019
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he bottles have been uncorked, the contents
swirled and sampled, the scores counted, and
it’s now time to reveal the winners of our annual
Cellars in the Sky airline wine awards.
Over two heady days in December, a crack
team of some of the finest palates known to
the wine world convened to find the finest
bottles served on board business and first class last year.
Tucked away in a room along a warren of corridors
in London’s Grosvenor hotel, the intoxicating (quite
literally) fragrance of wine heavy in the air, our judges- Sarah Abbott, Sam Caporn, Peter McCombie and
head judge Charles Metcalfe – gradually sorted out the
best from the rest.
For something that brings as much pleasure as wine,
the judging process is a surprisingly serious business.
I watch as the judges survey the line of bottles, the
identity of each hidden by a black bag, and known only
by a letter and two numbers (for example, FC1-2 means
first class, flight one, airline two).
They silently fill their glasses, sniff the contents with
vigour, take a decent sip and swish it around in their
mouths, before depositing it into a spittoon. There
is a lot of wine to get through and to swallow would
be madness. Clipboards in hand, they jot down a few
notes, sometimes returning to the same wine to reassess,
focused and intent. A plate of water biscuits provides
a bland counterpoint to the complex, often lingering,
flavours of the wine.
MAKING THE GRADE
Business Traveller’s Cellars in the Sky awards have been
running since 1985. This year, 33 airlines entered, with
judges sampling about 240 bottles to find the winners.
The competition is open to any carrier that serves
wine in business or first class on mid- or long-haul,
with each carrier able to enter two reds, two whites,
a sparkling and a fortified or dessert wine from
both cabins. Although they can compete in as many
categories as they like, to be eligible for the overall
award of Best Cellar they had to enter at least one red,
white and sparkling wine.
The tasting and assessment process is democratic.
The judges blind-taste all of the wines independently of
each other, each focused on getting through the flight
thoroughly and efficiently. Once they have made their
own assessment for each bottle, they form pairs and
run through the wines, giving each a mark out of 100,
to allow a more nuanced number that will enable easier
compromise if required. That score decided, the group
convenes to reach a consensus on a final mark.
While there is the odd difference of opinion, it’s
rarely to the extent that one party thinks something
rotten and the other exquisite. Nevertheless, it’s a case ofWORDS BECKY AMBURY
COMPETING
AIRLINES
Aegean, Aer Lingus,
Aeroflot, Aircalin,
Air Canada, Air France,
Air Italy, Air New
Zealand, Air Tahiti Nui,
American Airlines,
ANA, British Airways,
Brussels Airlines,
Cathay Dragon, Cathay
Pacific, Delta Air Lines,
EVA Air, Finnair,
Garuda Indonesia,
Iberia, Icelandair,
Japan Airlines, Jetblue,
Korean Air, Malaysia
Airlines, Oman Air,
Qantas, Qatar Airways,
South African Airways,
Singapore Airlines,
Sri Lankan Airlines,
TAP Air Portugal,
Virgin Atlantic.
Our sincere thanks to
all participants.majority rules. Where consensus cannot be found,
the scores are totted up and the average taken.
“To be a good judge,” McCombie says, “you
have to have a healthy enough ego to believe in
yourself for the tasting to succeed, but also be able
to accept the opinions of others.”
Abbott agrees: “It’s the wisdom of crowds. It’s
tempting to keep going back to try the wines
again, but the best method is just to concentrate
and taste through. Your palate can become
fatigued. So save tasting again for those wines that
provoke discussion.”WHAT WORKS BEST IN THE AIR?
Each year we ask the judges what is the best
wine to drink in the air and each year we are
invariably told that whites tend to be a better
bet than reds. That advice seems to be doublyPictured from left:
Charles Metcalfe,
head judge and
co-chairman of
the International
Wine Challenge;
Peter McCombie,
master of wine;
Sam Caporn,
master of wine;
and Sarah Abbott,
master of wineTHE JUDGES
RICHARD GRAY, RUGFOOT PHOTOGRAPHY