BUSINESS CLASS Airline wine: Keep that airsickness bag handy

"No self-respecting wine lover would drink anything on there," said Berger, of Santa Rosa, Calif., who writes the weekly Vintage Experiences newsletter. "The airline industry for 40 or more years has been overwhelmingly cheap with wine. If it's barely passable, they'll take it."

In its annual Cellars in the Sky competition — an appraisal of wines served in business- and first-classes worldwide — Business Traveller magazine recently awarded American Airlines first place in the "Business Class White" category. But every other top honor went to a non-U.S. airline. Qantas and Air New Zealand led the way, which didn't surprise Berger.

"Those airlines consider the quality of their wine a point of pride," he said.

Here, less so. There are two central problems, Berger said. U.S. airlines tend to serve wine from quarter-size bottles that might sit for months. Removing oxygen from those kinds of vessels is difficult, leading to quicker spoilage.

Even more essential, he said, is what's in the bottle. Wineries tend to save their least palatable product for those little bottles. Hence, it's cheap. Airlines commonly buy those bottles for about 50 cents each, then sell them for $6.

Wine served on U.S. airlines begins to be more palatable in business and first class on longer domestic flights, Berger said. But coach, where most business travelers fly, is a wine graveyard.

He spent two years consulting for an airline's wine program but became frustrated.

"They were always talking price," he said, adding that a couple of U.S. airlines are "trying to do a better job" — JetBlue among them.

JetBlue wine consultant Josh Wesson, who also is senior director of wine, beer and spirits for Best Cellars, an East Coast chain of value-oriented liquor stores, said the airline has given him the leeway and budget to think creatively.

JetBlue, which features only a coach section, serves one red and one white wine at a time, changing brands every six months. The wines have come from more countries than most airlines tend to deal with — South Africa, Chile, Argentina, California, France and Australia.

Said Wesson: "We're always looking for wines that haven't flown on coach before, that come from interesting places and are made from interesting grapes."

Cheers to that.

Do you have ideas for Business Class about the latest in business travel? Write to Josh Noel at jbnoel@tribune.com. Include "Business Class" in the subject line.

Best cellars

First-place winners from Business Traveller's 2010 Cellars in the Sky Awards:

Best-presented wine list

Air New Zealand

Best business-class cellar

Qantas

Best first-class cellar

Qantas

Consistency of wines across business and first class

Qantas

Best alliance

Oneworld

Airline with the most improved business-class cellar

Lufthansa

Airline with the most improved first-class cellar

All Nippon Airways