American Airlines Finally Fixes Its Premium Cabin Wine Problem — New $30+ Bottles Are Actually Worth Drinking

American Airlines started pouring good champagne in business class cabins and lounges. They’re replacing the coffee with Lavazza. They extended mattress pads to all international Flagship business class flights.

The airline that used to ‘never spend a dollar they don’t have to’ is finally investing in its product. And that includes more first class domestic seats (on Airbus A319s and 320s) and better business class suites on many widebody aircraft.

The latest update is to their wine program which I’ve been writing for years sorely needs attention.

American Has Desperately Needed This

While Bollinger is an excellent business class champagne choice, the rest of their wine program is arguably among the worst in the airline industry, with poor choices even for the $6 retail price point and on par with SriLankan Airlines. That’s actually changing.

American’s First Four New Wines Unveiled

Starting May 13, American is rolling out new ones that are “the first phase of a braoder refresh” to their wine program.

• International first and long haul business class: Truchard Vineyards Chardonnay and Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon

• Premium transcon first and business class: Migration Chardonnay and Justin Cabernet Sauvignon

The Truchard Vineyards Chardonnay from Carneros (Napa) is about a $35 bottle that should hold up well at altitude. It’s ripe fruit, oak spice and firm acidity. If served cold you’ll want to wait for it to return to room temperature.

Decoy Limited Cabernet Sauvignon is an Alexander Valley $30ish bottle will be plush, dark-fruited, soft-tannin, and full-bodied. It should survive the dry pressurized cabin nicely with noticeable blackberry, blueberry, and vanilla oak.

I should add here that the press release actually doesn’t say this is Decoy Limited, and the basic Decoy California Cabernet is more of a high-teens bottle. But the image in the release is for Decoy Limited, and the Alexander Valley designation supports this. That’s a better bottle and also a pick that’ll work better onboard.

Surprisingly the most expensive retail bottle among the four is actually going to be served on transcon routes like New York JFK – Los Angeles rather than long haul: the Migration Chardonnay from Sonoma Coast retails around $44. It has enough body, oak, malolactic texture, and acidity to do well in the air. Expect pear, apple, lemon custard, brioche, and hazelnut.

Finally the Justin Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles can be had a bit less expensively, probably $24 – $30. It’s not really a subtle wine, but is a decent broad appeal bottle. I’d give this one a miss myself.

This is still a modest, conservative effort. They’re going for safe California bottles. These aren’t the sort of premium picks you’ll find on Emirates or as premium as what United now offers. But they’re legitimate $30 – $40 retail bottles, and a huge improvement over what American was pouring.

It represents a shift from lowest-cost commodity and whatever the vendor can source at the lowest price point, to likely proactively making deals with wineries that value the exposure in exchange for a good price on very drinkable bottles.

Long haul, if you’re choosing independent of meal selection, go with the cab. On the transcons, pick the chardonnay. And, they’re still serving Bollinger, which I do think is a slightly better choice for bubbles than what United and Delta are pouring.

What Wines Actually Work At Altitude

Cabin conditions change perception. Reduced pressure, low humidity, and noise all interfere with taste and aroma. As a result,

• Sparkling wine wins. High acidity and bubbles cut through sensory dulling.
• Aromatic whites beat subtle whites. Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer can hold up better than delicate styles.
• Big tannic reds can taste harsher. Tannin perception can skew unpleasant when your palate is dulled and your mouth is dry.
• Fruit-forward, medium-tannin reds do well. Rioja, Rhône blends, Malbec, some New World Merlot/Cab blends. I remember American’s contract wine expert Ken Chase, years ago, strongly favoring fruit bombs.
• Slight residual sugar can help and indeed can be more satisfying in the air than on the ground.

Singapore Airlines says their “wine experts” taste more than 1,000 wines per year. They even have a pressurized tasting room to approximate inflight conditions on the ground.

Who Has The Best Inflight Wine Programs?

Some airlines treat wine as a brand strategy. I think of Emirates and Singapore as offering two of the best here, with Emirates having quite a few prestige bottles and Singapore offering very thoughtful selections.

Qatar Airways usually rates well.

I tend to like Qantas wines, because I favor Australian wineries and styles. I think when you get on a flight to or from Australia there should be Australian wines on board.

Probably the big surprise among top wine programs is how far United Airlines has come that I now think of them as being among the better carriers for wine in business class.

Until now and aside from the cost and poor selection even for the price point, I think American Airlines first class wines offended me most departing Sydney without a single Australian choice. So far this is not a regional program.

They’re serving four new California wines. That’s fine but I’d love to see them grow beyond this. They say this is just the start – more interesting and regional bottles would be a nice addition. Wine will no longer be something to avoid in American Airlines premium cabins, something that’s ‘not part of the experience’. And this is genuinely great to see because it’s semmingly a small detail, but one that suggests they’re really beginning to pay attention to the details. And that’s real progress.