Qantas Sommeliers offering wine tasting - Economy included!

[junbugging]

Second, re labelling, lots of countries do NOT label their wine with the specific varietals. That is a very Aussie thing. May I suggest not focusing on that, and rather relaxing and simply relishing the experience of deciding if YOU personally enjoy the sensations of imbibing the offering?

And then if you do enjoy it, just buy some random bottle of anything next time you want to replicate the experience.

 

[njba]

Second, re labelling, lots of countries do NOT label their wine with the specific varietals. That is a very Aussie thing. May I suggest not focusing on that, and rather relaxing and simply relishing the experience of deciding if YOU personally enjoy the sensations of imbibing the offering?

Is this true? Sure the wine Grandpa Joe makes in his garage won't be labelled but it's rare to see anything drinkable available via retail or restaurants not to have its varietal specified.

 

[juddles]

Varietal labelling is slowly becoming more widespread, but it was not the norm.

Edit: I am NOT a wine expert. But I travel a lot. And I have been used to a lack of varietal specification - something generally unheard of in Australia.

 

[Daver6]

Is this true? Sure the wine Grandpa Joe makes in his garage won't be labelled but it's rare to see anything drinkable available via retail or restaurants not to have its varietal specified.

Most new world wine will state the variety. Most old world wine won't (ie France, Germany, Italy, Spain etc).

 

[juddles]

Most new world wine will state the variety. Most old world wine won't (ie France, Germany, Italy, Spain etc).

Exactly. But I think they are "progressing" slowly?

 

[drewbles]

Two comments - the first is that to subject a long-haul pax to a blind tasting is a tad unfair - everyone is off par in those flights

Second, re labelling, lots of countries do NOT label their wine with the specific varietals. That is a very Aussie thing. May I suggest not focusing on that, and rather relaxing and simply relishing the experience of deciding if YOU personally enjoy the sensations of imbibing the offering?

There was nothing to focus on. I've tasted better flat soft drinks than this red wine.

I'm not a wine snob, but I do love specific varietals.

Most the worlds major wine growing regions do specify varietals. Apparently the reason that the ones that AA was serving had such a mish-mash of grapes, they (the manufacturer) is not required to specify what types of grapes are in the bottle.

I've never seen a bottle of red, excluding this one, anywhere in the world, that just says 'red wine'. I've seen 'Dry Red' and the like in cardboard boxes (and even some cheap vineyards from Australia) but the box still lists what the grape is.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Most the worlds major wine growing regions do specify varietals. Apparently the reason that the ones that AA was serving had such a mish-mash of grapes, they (the manufacturer) is not required to specify what types of grapes are in the bottle.

Define "most"? France, Spain and Italy produce almost as much wine as the rest of the world put together...and there's very little varietal labelling on any of their wine (only some of the export stuff). Varietal labelling is distinctly "new world" - Australia, SA, USA etc - and France alone produces more wine than Aus+USA+SA put together (well, according to stats in 7th Ed of the World Wine Atlas...)

 

[Brettmcg]

I have it from reliable sources that this was never an official thing and has now been nipped in the bud. I am led to believe the BFA in the video interview is also no longer in the employ of QF.

 

[JessicaTam]

I met one of QF's sommeliers last year. From memory they were one of the instructors. We had a good discussion on wines and regions - to the extent I walked off the plane with some recommended wineries to visit that I would not normally have considered. Oh, there might have been a bottle of wine in my bag too!

 

[RooFlyer]

I have it from reliable sources that this was never an official thing and has now been nipped in the bud. I am led to believe the BFA in the video interview is also no longer in the employ of QF.

Yes, by goodness they should absolutely nip in the bud any suggestion of an improved flight experience via staff initiative or even holding out the possibility of it. What on earth were they thinking?!

 

[Brettmcg]

Yes, by goodness they should absolutely nip in the bud any suggestion of an improved flight experience via staff initiative or even holding out the possibility of it. What on earth were they thinking?!

I find that to be a very simplistic view.

The way for staff to suggest improvements to flight experience is to take it up with management, not act as a lone wolf and give an interview to some travel journo, which then goes viral - the post made it onto Conde Nast and a host of other websites.

Put yourself in the shoes of an onboard manager who then has to deal with pax asking for this when they've never heard about it before. It can already be hard enough to manage consistency of service flows when they are tweaked from time to time and you have crews made up of staff from different ports and crew bases.

The idea itself is not the problem.

 

[drewbles]

Define "most"? France, Spain and Italy produce almost as much wine as the rest of the world put together...and there's very little varietal labelling on any of their wine (only some of the export stuff). Varietal labelling is distinctly "new world" - Australia, SA, USA etc - and France alone produces more wine than Aus+USA+SA put together (well, according to stats in 7th Ed of the World Wine Atlas...)

I'm basing this on my experience only. I went to a few Supermarche''s in Reims and the wines there seemed to have varieties on them.

I know less about Spanish and Italian wines (except a good Sangiovese or Tempranillo ).

 

[RooFlyer]

I find that to be a very simplistic view.

The way for staff to suggest improvements to flight experience is to take it up with management, not act as a lone wolf and give an interview to some travel journo, which then goes viral - the post made it onto Conde Nast and a host of other websites.

Put yourself in the shoes of an onboard manager who then has to deal with pax asking for this when they've never heard about it before. It can already be hard enough to manage consistency of service flows when they are tweaked from time to time and you have crews made up of staff from different ports and crew bases.

The idea itself is not the problem.

Fair 'nuf, although I would have called it facetious rather than simplistic - one of my many failings.

That said, to hear that its difficult to manage consistency of service after 'tweaking' because of staff ports and bases is rather surprising. Surely that's not a significant factor in Qantas' well known 'consistent inconsistency'? I'd say it was a major failing of management if they can't communicate and arrange appropriate training over ... how many crew bases would there be? More than 10? And its not as if crew are stuck in one location - they do get around a fair bit, so could be rostered for training when they go through a major port.

As with the whole priority boarding thing, I rarely have criticism for the individual staff (although some clearly have 'bad days', which I can sympathise with) - its the management of the airline who have to care about these things enough to fix them and/or to see that staff such as the one involved here don't go off the reservation.

 

[katiebell]

Two comments - the first is that to subject a long-haul pax to a blind tasting is a tad unfair - everyone is off par in those flights

Second, re labelling, lots of countries do NOT label their wine with the specific varietals. That is a very Aussie thing. May I suggest not focusing on that, and rather relaxing and simply relishing the experience of deciding if YOU personally enjoy the sensations of imbibing the offering?

We started using varietal labelling on almost everything when the EU was going to block imports if Australia continued to use names they claimed as EU regional (e.g. champagne, claret, moselle, rhine riesling, tokay, port, sherry etc) It has caused our wine makers a lot cof challenges but helped drinkers to know more about what they are drinking should they wish to do so. Some EU producers have seen the sales benefit and following our (forced) lead. The latest challenge is re the name prosecco (they want us to call it glera).

 

[CaptJCool]

Some years back I walked off the 747 with a bottle of first class champagne even though I was slumming it in Eco.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Yes, by goodness they should absolutely nip in the bud any suggestion of an improved flight experience via staff initiative or even holding out the possibility of it. What on earth were they thinking?!

Srsly? You can't see any number of poeple from FF forums (or other places) lining up for F/J plonk? And the corresponding need to devote crew to policing this whole thing, which could occur anytime during flight, taking the "sommelier" away from attending to F/J pax, maybe creating safety issues, inteference with other service, and who knows what else?

It's not necessarily a bad idea per se, but it's probably not very well throught through as described. There's a time and a place for wine tasting, and I suspect the Y galley is not the place for it
Heck, any number of good wine shops hold free tasting events, with far better plonk, every other weekend.