Wine tasting at altitude
Written by Sarah Finley
 If you can afford to fly business class or first class on Singapore Airlines it may just be worth it. The first to fly the Airbus A380 they don’t hold back for their premium passengers. With suites which look like bedrooms, wine and food tasted and approved by experts and cutlery better than you’d find in a restaurant you’ll wake up in your destination wanting to stay on the plane.
The location for the wine tasting was very well thought out. Altitude 360, 29th floor at the Milbank Towers on the Southbank was impressive with views of London landmarks and also on the Heathrow flight path. With Champagne, canapés and a history about Singapore Airlines and their choices in wines it was a welcoming and informative night.
One of the wine consultants, Steven Spurrier, a consultant editor for Decanter magazine, was on hand to tell us why certain wines were picked, while we made our way through two whites and two reds.
The two whites we tasted were the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2007, and the Rudesheimer Riesling Spatlese 2006 Rheingau Balthasar Ress, both of which are served in the suites. The reds served were Mr Riggs “The Gaffer” Mclaren Vale 2005 and the Castello di Fonterutoli 2004 Chianti Classico.
All hand picked by the Singapore Airlines wine experts my favourite was the Cloudy Bay, which wasn’t too sweet or too dry and would be a perfect compliment to one of the meals served on board, the Chicken, served with mango, which we got to sample in the canapés.
But of course when you’re in the air wine will taste much different, so how do the experts get it right for passengers? They test it in a Simulated Aircraft cabin (SAC) of course. Introduced in Singapore in July 2001 the SAC simulates the aircraft cabin environment when an aircraft is flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet above ground.
The main point that Spurrier explained is how the tannins in the wines get exaggerated onboard so they look for more fruiter rounded wines that will have an impact in the air. This was definitely apparent in all their wines choices, they were sweeter wines than I’m used to, but as explained they would work better at an altitude and compliment their food selection.
But what astounded me was how much time and effort they out into their choices of wine and food, employing people such as Spurrier and even Gordon Ramsey as their food experts showed that they are willing to go above and beyond for their passengers.
For more information visit www.singaporeair.com |
