Qantas business, first class could use some local sparkle

Qantas supports Australia’s wine industry but passengers in first or business class are still offered champagne.

Qantas makes a big deal of being a proud supporter of the Australian wine industry. The airline spends $15 million a year on locally produced booze — that’s about two million bottles — and whether you’re drinking in Qantas economy, business or first class or in the lounges, all the wines on offer are exclusively Australian. Well, almost all.

At a recent media event at the company’s in-flight training facility in Sydney, Rockpool celebrity chef and creative director of the airline’s food and beverage program Neil Perry told guests that because Qantas was such an iconic Australian brand it made sense to promote Australian wine. “We should be a beacon for our wines,” Perry said. “A shop window for our wine industry around the world.”

Qantas food and beverage creative director Neil Perry at the media event.

Very laudable. Except that passengers who take their seats in Qantas first or business class are still offered French champagne — a 2004 Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill, perhaps, or a 2006 Taittinger Comtes. Both are lovely, sure — but they’re not very Australian, are they, Neil.

“The fact is,” Perry said, “there’s still an expectation among first and business passengers that they’re going to get French.”

Cabin crew member and Qantas Sommelier in the Sky Greg Elliot said: “We tried offering Australian sparkling in first and business once. “We gave people a choice: Krug or Croser. They all chose Krug.”

I’m not surprised. I’d have chosen Krug, too, no matter how patriotic I was feeling. But the fact is that the quality of top Aussie sparkling has improved greatly during the past few years, especially as more late-disgorged Tasmanian wines from producers such as House of Arras, Radenti, Jansz, Delamere, Josef Chromy, Stefano Lubiana and others have hit the market. These are superb wines, often disgorged after spending five or 10 years or more on lees, with as much complexity and finesse as the finest champagnes.

Indeed, just a few days before the media event at Qantas HQ, the 2007 House of Arras Grand Vintage took out the trophy for grand champion wine of show at the Royal Queensland Wine Show — and a couple of weeks later the same wine won best of show at Royal Sydney, the first time a bubbly has snagged top honours at both major competitions, traditionally dominated by red and white tables wines.

And in case the Qantas wine team needs more reasons to give our local bubbly a burl in business, at the Sydney show the 2006 House of Arras Blanc de Blancs won a trophy the best wine exhibited at all capital city royal wine shows in the previous 12 months, an outstanding result.

Then again, bearing in mind Perry’s observation about passenger expectations up the pointy end of the plane, maybe business and first-class customers need to do some homework before they board by trying more top Tassie fizz.

It’s not as if it’s all that hard to find. A quick search online tells me that you can still find the startlingly brilliant 2005 Arras bubblies — the super-refined and creamy Blanc de Blancs, the gorgeously complex Brut Rose — in various good wine retailers for about $70 to $80 a bottle (cheaper, in other words, than most equivalent quality champagnes), and that both of the multi-trophy winning wines mentioned above are available for anywhere between $55 and $80, depending on where you shop.

In fact, the Qantas wine retail website is selling the Arras Grand Vintage and Blanc de Blancs in six-packs for $69.99 a bottle.

Surely if it’s good enough for online, it’s good enough for on board.

Max Allen flew to Sydney as a guest of Qantas.