Category: News

The 2018 Cellars in the Sky Awards

The Business Traveller Cellars in the Sky 2018 Awards, which recognize the best business and first-class wines served by airlines worldwide for 2018, were presented on Monday, February 18 at The Langham, London, by Charles Metcalfe, co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge.

Qantas was the evening’s biggest winner, taking the coveted Gold Medal for Best Overall Cellar, as well as the top spots in the Best First-Class White, Best First Class Sparkling (jointly with Air France and Cathay Pacific), Best First-Class Cellar, Best-Presented First-Class Wine List, and Best Business Class Fortified / Dessert Wine categories.

Cathay Pacific won two Gold Medals for Best First Class Sparkling (jointly with Air France and Qantas) and Best Business Class Red, while Malaysia Airlines took the top spot in the Best First-Class Red category, ANA won the award for Best First Class Fortified / Dessert Wine, and Qatar Airways took the top spot in the Best Business Class Sparkling category.
Oneworld was named Best Airline Alliance, while one of its member carriers British Airways took the Gold Medal for Best Business Class Cellar.

And a special note to US low-cost carrier Jetblue, which won a Gold Medal in the Cellars in the Sky competition for the first time, taking the top spot in the Best Business Class White category.

Business Traveller contacted airlines in summer 2018, and 33 entered.
Blind tastings of 240 bottles took place at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria, in December, with the four judges independently scoring the wines over the course of two days.

Participating airlines were: Aegean, Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Aircalin, Air Canada, Air France, Air Italy, Air New Zealand, Air Tahiti Nui, American Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Cathay Dragon, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, EVA Air, Finnair, Garuda Indonesia, Iberia, Icelandair, Japan Airlines, Jet Blue, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, and Virgin Atlantic.

LIST OF WINNERS AND SHORTLISTED AIRLINES

FIRST CLASS
BEST FIRST-CLASS RED

• Gold Medal: Malaysia Airlines – Joseph Drouhin Côte de Beaune 2015, Burgundy, France

• Silver Medal: American Airlines – Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2016, Sonoma County, US

• Bronze Medal (joint): ANA – Château Léoville Barton 2012, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France; Qatar Airways – Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2009, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France

BEST FIRST-CLASS WHITE

• Gold Medal: Qantas – Penfolds Reserve Bin 15A Chardonnay 2015, Adelaide Hills, Australia

• Silver Medal: Qantas – Flametree SRS Wallcliffe Chardonnay 2016, Margaret River, Australia

• Bronze Medal (joint): Cathay Dragon – Lamblin and Fils Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaumes, 2016, France; Malaysia Airlines – Palliser Estate Chardonnay 2016, Martinborough, New Zealand

BEST FIRST-CLASS SPARKLING

• Gold Medal (joint): Air France, Cathay Pacific, Qantas –Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2006, Franc

• Silver Medal (joint): ANA, Qatar Airways – Champagne Krug 2004, France; Singapore Airlines – Dom Pérignon 2006, Champagne, France

• Bronze Medal: Oman Air –Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal, Brut, 2009, France

BEST FIRST-CLASS FORTIFIED/DESSERT WINE

• Gold Medal: ANA – Barbeito Madeira Malvasia 20 year old, Portugal

• Silver Medal: Cathay Pacific – Warre’s Otima Single Year Tawny Colheita Port 2006, Portugal

• Bronze Medal: Qantas – Morris of Rutherglen Wines Old Premium Rare Liqueur Muscat, Australia

BEST-PRESENTED FIRST-CLASS WINE LIST

• Gold Medal: Qantas
• Highly Commended: ANA

BEST FIRST-CLASS CELLAR

• Gold Medal: Qantas
• Silver Medal: ANA
• Bronze Medal: Cathay Pacific

BUSINESS CLASS
BEST BUSINESS CLASS RED

• Gold Medal: Cathay Pacific – Elderton Shiraz 2015, Barossa Valley, Australia

• Silver Medal: Air New Zealand – Lowburn Ferry Home Block Pinot Noir 2014, Central Otago, New Zealand

• Bronze Medal: Air Italy – Olianas Perdixi 2016, Gergei, Sardinia, Italy

BEST BUSINESS CLASS WHITE

• Gold Medal: Jetblue – Sandhi Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2015, California, US

• Silver Medal: Aer Lingus – De Bortoli La Bohème Act One Riesling, 2016, Yarra Valley, Australia

• Bronze Medal: Oman Air – Pascal Jolivet Sancerre Montagu 2016, France

BEST BUSINESS CLASS SPARKLING

• Gold Medal: Qatar Airways – Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Blanc de Blancs 2006, France

• Silver Medal: EVA Air – Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2007, Champagne, France

• Bronze Medal: Malaysia Airlines – Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Blanc de Blancs 2007, France

BEST BUSINESS CLASS FORTIFIED/ DESSERT WINE

• Gold Medal: Qantas – Baileys of Glenrowan Founder Series Classic Muscat, Victoria, Australia

• Silver Medal: Air New Zealand – Forrest Botrytised Riesling 2016, Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand

• Bronze Medal (joint): Oman Air – Château Guiraud 1er Grand Cru Classé
en 1855, 2014, Sauternes-Barsac, France; Aeroflot – Grahams 10-Year-Old Tawny Port, NV, Porto Duro, Portugal

BEST BUSINESS CLASS CELLAR

• Gold Medal: British Airways
• Silver Medal: Qatar Airways
• Bronze Medal: Jetblue

BEST-PRESENTED BUSINESS CLASS WINE LIST

• Gold Medal: EVA Air

OVERALL AWARDS
BEST AIRLINE ALLIANCE

• Oneworld

BEST OVERALL CELLAR

• Gold Medal: Qantas
• Silver Medal: Cathay Pacific
• Bronze Medal: ANA, Qatar Airways
• Highly Commended: American Airlines

Top Wine Influencers In 2019 You Need to Pay Attention To

I am so honored and thankful to be part of this community, and be included on this list with other notable wine personalities! Liz Palmer

“Here are the top 20 wine influencers that you need to check out in 2019 —
These are the new critics. Find the influencer that has got the attention of your customer demographic and you have a chance. That’s our no # 1 marketing tip for wineries to double down on. Here is a list of top wine influencers that have a good loyal following on Instagram & Twitter.

1) The Wine Wankers

The Wine Wankers are the Sydney based bloggers who love talking about wine through social media. Their central theme of writing is usually humour. According to the urban dictionary, the definition of wine wanker is “somebody who drinks wine pretentiously in the company of others to show off their knowledge and try to make other people feel inferior.” Conrad & Drew, owners of Wine Wankers spend a lot of time travelling the wine world thus having a large international base.

2) Jancis Robinson

Jancis Robinson is one of the top wine influencers and the editor of the book The Oxford Companion to Wine. She is also a wine judge & a reviewer. She travels all over the world to explore different wines and talks about them on her website and social media platforms.

3) Julien Miquel

Julien Miquel has more than 10 years of experience in winemaking. His current project is the Social Vignerons website on which he shares various content of the world of wine like interviews, wine & food pairings, infographics, etc. In 2015, it was awarded as the Best New Wine Blog by the Wine Blogs Awards.

4) Jon Thorsen

Jon Thorsen aka The Reverse Wine Snob is a wine enthusiast with an open mind and a reasonable budget. This wine blogger is focused on everyday wine drinkers that buy wine for relaxed enjoyment. He had the opportunity to travel to various wine regions like California, Spain, Italy, France, Virginia, Argentina, and Slovenia.

5) Jessica Altieri

Jessica Altieri is certified as a Water Sommelier and the host of “Wine Conversations with Jessica Altieri” on the revolVer Podcast platform. She helps wine brands, wine PR firms, and wine lifestyle brands position their products in front of targeted audiences to promote engagement, brand awareness, and sales by creating dynamic social media lifestyle campaigns as well as live events and promotions. She works with Winemakers, Retail Executives, Marketing & PR Executives and also with Wine lifestyle partners- hotels, fashion & travel.

6) Kelly Mitchell

Kelly Mitchell is an award-winning Napa Valley Journalist who loves to explore scores of wine varietals across the globe. She runs her own website The Wine Siren where she shares the stories of wine creators, farmers, winemakers & artisans. She travels a lot and gains more knowledge wine-making techniques and varietals.

7) Jeff Kralik

Jeff Kralik started the blog the drunken cyclist in 2012. During summer, he used to explore various wine regions like the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Provence, Alsace, Bordeaux, the Dordogne, the Jura, and Champagne. He was fascinated by history, culture, tradition & stories of the producers. His blogs feature wineries, recipes, details of retailers, and various other fun articles.

8) Tim Atkin

Tim Atkin is a UK based wine writer having more than 33 years of experience in the wine industry. He is also one of the top Master of Wine & Wine Critic in the world. He travels the world to visit various wine regions and meet producers of wine to gain insights about the wine-growing areas of their country. Along with writing for his own website, he also writes for various magazines like Harpers, Decanter, Gourmet Traveller Wine, Jamie Magazine and Imbibe.

9) Julie Brosterman

Julie Brosterman is the co-founder of Women & Wine Team. They create dynamic content/ promos/ events & social media strategy to reach a large audience base. They have their own Color of Wine App on which they share various content related to wine.

10) Jamie Goode

Jamie Goode is a London-based wine critic, blogger, author and columnist having a background in Ph.D. in plant biology. He launched his website wineaorak.com which shares various content like food & wine, wine travel, photographs, book reviews, tasting notes, etc.

11) Luiz Alberto

Luiz Alberto is a Boston based blogger & the founder of the editorial Wine Hub. He judges international wine competitions and uses social media to share his passion for wine. The Wine Hub features various content related to Wine & Food, Wine Tasting, etc. It has also various blogs related to wines.

12) Joey Casco

Joey Casco has a website TheWineStalker.net on which he writes contents like educational long reads, smaller post, original memes, recipes & a lot of wine reviews. Except for blogging Joey also loves teaching people about wine. One day he wishes to be a wine educator.

13) Alder Yarrow

Alder Yarrow is a California based US wine & restaurant blogger. His wine blog Vinography is one of the highly famous websites. It has various content which features Wine Reviews, Restaurant reviews, Book reviews, Wine news, images, etc. He is considered one of the top 20 influencers on social media.

14) Cathrine Todd

Cathrine Todd is a New York-based wine blogger who runs her wine blog called Dame Wine. She is a WSET Diploma graduate and now a freelancer. Earlier she spent many years selling various wines from around the world in the Manhattan market. She likes to travel to lots of interesting food/wine destinations as often as possible.

15) Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams is a Texas-based freelance writer & is a WSET Level 3 Advanced certified. She has her own wine blog website called the Rocking Red Blog. She writes about wine, food & travel. Most of her work appears in Snooth, The Daily Meal, USA Today’s 10Best Eat Sip Trip, Basil & Salt Magazine, Food Wine Travel Magazine, Plano Profile Magazine & Casa Life Magazine. She is considered one of the top 15 most influential person in wine. She travels globally to experience wine regions in the first hand.

16) Liz Palmer

Liz Palmer is Toronto and London UK based award-winning author, wine journalist & founder of Upsocial Wine & Spirits Agency (a digital and influencer marketing agency). Her articles have appeared in the top magazines like Forbes, Huffington Post, China Wine News, Wine Picker Magazine, and more. She is also an international wine judge. In 2017, she was also appointed Dame Chevalier de L’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne in an official ceremony in Paris.

17) Marilena Barbera

Marilena Barbera is a winegrower who is based in Sicily. She pursued her law degree from international law in Florence & her masters in tax & financial planning in Verona. She fell in love with winemaking while she was working at her family business, Cantine Barbera. She is fond of travelling.

18) Meg Maker

Meg Maker launched Terroir Review, a journal about nature, culture, food, wine & place. This journal features writing, wine reviews, other writers, photographers, and artists—to share their perspective and expertise. Meg travels extensively to taste with producers & hear their stories. Her work has been appreciated in The New York Times, Daily Beast, Brain Pickings, BuzzFeed & more.

19) Dusan Jelic

Dusan Jelic owns Wines of Balkan, a digital wine marketing company which share relevant vinous information and connect wine lovers from all over the world. The ultimate goal is to turn wines of Balkans into a strong regional brand, genuinely respected in the world of wine lovers of all colours and from all walks of life.

20) Katherine Cole

Katherine Cole is a Harvard graduate and an executive producer of The Four Top, a national food-and-beverage podcast. She is also the Communications Director at Vin Agency, brand design and creative firm serving the fine wine and craft beverage industry. She is featured in a documentary American Wine Story and has also contributed to national and international food and wine publications.”

Source: Sommeliers Choice Awards and Beverage Trade Network

L’Intendant – “A Mythical Ascent in the World of Bordeaux Wines”

Established in 1945, L’Intendant has established itself in Bordeaux as the reference caviste to purchase the grands crus of Bordeaux directly from the properties.

L’Intendant is situated in the city center of Bordeaux, and
one of the grandest wine stores in the world. As you enter, you see a magnificent central staircase spiralling up five floors, which are surrounded by cylindrical shelves holding over 20,000 bottles of Bordeaux.

The ground floor offers a wide selection of half-bottles and affordable wines, ascend to the next level you will find bourgeois crus and second wines; at the third level you discover the classified Crus of Médoc, the big reds of Saint-Emilion, Pomerol and Pessac-Léognan; finally, a true sanctuary, the fourth and final level contains an incomparable offer of large formats including double-magnums, jeroboams, and imperial, along with older vintages, some going back as far as 1945.

2 Allées de Tourny, 33000 Bordeaux, France

Author lizpalmerPosted on Categories Articles, Bordeaux, News, TravelTags , , , , , ,

The 5th International Rose Symposium – Marseille, France January 22, 2019

I’m very excited to be invited to the 5th International Rosé Symposium / Rencontres Internationales du Rosé.

The Symposium is hosted by the Provence Wine Council (CIVP), and the Rosé Research and Experimentation Centre, which takes place in the magnificent setting of the Mucem in Marseille on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.

The Symposium, this year, is focusing specifically on research and insights related to rosé wine.

The international speakers are members of the scientific, technical and wine-growing community, and will share their research and studies related to rosé wine.

The 2019 themes will focus on the future of rosé wines, revolving around three major challenges for the industry:

• Adapting to climate change
• Ecological transition
• Changing consumer patterns

The morning will be held as a plenary session, which will include the three major challenges. The lunch cocktail lunch designed by Gérald Passedat.

The afternoon sessions include technical or think-tank workshops, and the presentation of several innovations from fundamental or applied research.

Watch for my followup report.

Website: https://www.rencontres-internationales-rose.com/home.html

WINE IS THE MOST POPULAR CHRISTMAS GIFT, BUT ONE-THIRD WILL REGIFT

Wine remains the most popular alcoholic beverage to take to a Christmas/holiday party, with 59% citing it as their 1st choice, but 1/3rd that receive a bottle admit to “regifting” it to another, a survey by BIVB has found.

The average person receives four bottles of wine throughout the Christmas or holiday period and gives away an average of three bottles, yet more than three in ten of us (31%) often ‘re-gift’ a bottle wine that we receive.

But over a quarter (26%) admit to not knowing a lot about wine when purchasing wines, with price the deciding factor in most instances, with just over a fifth (21%) saying they buy whatever’s on special offer.

26% of respondents said it was the price that they looked at first, followed by style or grape variety (17%) and country or region (11%).

However, we are more likely to trade up at this time of year. According to a WSTA market report, outside of Christmas.

There is definitely something for every budget and occasion – I suggest you have a price range in mind before you go wine shopping – do your research.

Bordeaux Wines commissioned the research, which was carried out online by Opinion Matters in November and resulted in responses from 2,046 people aged over 18 in the UK.

Sources: Drinks Business and BIVB, WSAT