Financial Times article on BA wines. FT gets a mention.
#31
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For what it's worth, based on volume alone, I would personally be surprised if the bulk prices negotiated by BA for their F needs are any lower than those negotiated by Majestic and Aldi, but I am admittedly not privy to any of those companies' purchasing contracts. To be honest, I think that the lower end of your estimate/higher end of mine, ie around 15 is probably not far from right for 5 cellar door. I really wouldn't think that 20 or more is - that to me would be a cellar door price of 7-8 (€8.50-10) so well above BA's threshold, and I do think that my original lower end of 12 was too low (probably 3.50-4). I haven't had those discussions for a long time, but I seem to remember that a 10 retail bottle typically has about 3 worth of wine in it and a 5 bottle not even 0.50. Shocking stuff when you think of the amount of work and love that can go into those bottles, but that is unfortunately all too common in the food industry whereby producers get very little for their work.
Last edited by orbitmic; Feb 22, 2019 at 1:30 pm
#32
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I too would not drink any bottle at home that cost 15. Who would? Currently quaffing a Brancott Estate sauv blanc and enjoyable it is too.
#33
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Really? You'd best tell Business Traveller and The Cellars in the Sky Awards, just this Monday they gave British Airways the Gold Medal for Best Business Class Cellar - it can't all be bad! Oh, and Qatar were awarded the Silver Medal in the same category. These were blind tastings, so the judges weren't swayed by fancy labels, it was all down purely to taste and enjoyment - much more important than price, don't you think?
#34
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https://groceries.morrisons.com/webs...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
#35
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Yes, its available in Morrisons for 6.50 .... or as little as 5.25 in Sainsburys.
https://groceries.morrisons.com/webs...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
#36
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Having done a bit of searching, it's not clear how BA's wines are selected. A few places name Andy Sparrow (and he's in a BA YouTube video talking about wine selection), but he works for Bibendum.
There was an overview article from Decanter outlining the scale of airline purchases - https://www.decanter.com/features/ai...t-life-372891/
Google also returned an interesting PDF on the Masters of Wine site (apparently confidential) - almost a tender document for consultants to be part of the process in 2019/20 - https://www.mastersofwine.org/downlo...AE3EBDA3AE49BD - there's also an html version here - https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&ct=clnk&gl=uk
There was an overview article from Decanter outlining the scale of airline purchases - https://www.decanter.com/features/ai...t-life-372891/
Google also returned an interesting PDF on the Masters of Wine site (apparently confidential) - almost a tender document for consultants to be part of the process in 2019/20 - https://www.mastersofwine.org/downlo...AE3EBDA3AE49BD - there's also an html version here - https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&ct=clnk&gl=uk
#37
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Having done a bit of searching, it's not clear how BA's wines are selected. A few places name Andy Sparrow (and he's in a BA YouTube video talking about wine selection), but he works for Bibendum.
There was an overview article from Decanter outlining the scale of airline purchases - https://www.decanter.com/features/ai...t-life-372891/
Google also returned an interesting PDF on the Masters of Wine site (apparently confidential) - almost a tender document for consultants to be part of the process in 2019/20 - https://www.mastersofwine.org/downlo...AE3EBDA3AE49BD - there's also an html version here - https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&ct=clnk&gl=uk
There was an overview article from Decanter outlining the scale of airline purchases - https://www.decanter.com/features/ai...t-life-372891/
Google also returned an interesting PDF on the Masters of Wine site (apparently confidential) - almost a tender document for consultants to be part of the process in 2019/20 - https://www.mastersofwine.org/downlo...AE3EBDA3AE49BD - there's also an html version here - https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&ct=clnk&gl=uk
as for the article, that Taittinger and sugar crew hand scrub sounds like the most shocking stuff Ive read on ft in a long time!!!
#38
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Interestingly, the wine tender document doesn't include champagne, so clearly there must be a different supply chain in operation there.
It's also interesting to see this side of the business reflecting some things that we occasionally see mentioned, like the cabin crew's lists including the phonetic pronunciation guide.
#39
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This is what BA say...
Building a memorable wine experience.
The British Airways Food and Beverage team is defining the structure and requirement of the
wine menus. It aims at building a memorable wine experience for our customers.
The only thing memorable is how cheap the wine is. Nothing more than 6 Euros at wholesale prices.
No more Puligny Montrachet or Ch. Lynch-Bages.
The British Airways Food and Beverage team is defining the structure and requirement of the
wine menus. It aims at building a memorable wine experience for our customers.
The only thing memorable is how cheap the wine is. Nothing more than 6 Euros at wholesale prices.
No more Puligny Montrachet or Ch. Lynch-Bages.
#40
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It's fine if BA (and IAG?) have outsourced their wine pre-selection to Bibendum - subject to later tastings/selections but, in the things I've found today, it's not clear how the process works
#43
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I worked in the wine trade (albeit a while ago) and I discovered quite quickly that if people were told that what they were tasting was quite expensive, then they would be more generous with their praise. If they tried something blind, then they may have had different opinions.
#44
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 116
But it wasn't set on its own, JR clearly explained that this was the cellar door price, and I personally do not think that anyone on this thread mistook it for a retail price. So with regards to your point that a 6 cellar door price is nowhere near a 6 retail price, I agree entirely. JR's point, however, was that a 6 exclusion threshold for F wine bottles is extremely low and I agree entirely with her on that too.
For what it's worth, based on volume alone, I would personally be surprised if the bulk prices negotiated by BA for their F needs are any lower than those negotiated by Majestic and Aldi, but I am admittedly not privy to any of those companies' purchasing contracts. To be honest, I think that the lower end of your estimate/higher end of mine, ie around 15 is probably not far from right for 5 cellar door. I really wouldn't think that 20 or more is - that to me would be a cellar door price of 7-8 (8.50-10) so well above BA's threshold, and I do think that my original lower end of 12 was too low (probably 3.50-4). I haven't had those discussions for a long time, but I seem to remember that a 10 retail bottle typically has about 3 worth of wine in it and a 5 bottle not even 0.50. Shocking stuff when you think of the amount of work and love that can go into those bottles, but that is unfortunately all too common in the food industry whereby producers get very little for their work.
For what it's worth, based on volume alone, I would personally be surprised if the bulk prices negotiated by BA for their F needs are any lower than those negotiated by Majestic and Aldi, but I am admittedly not privy to any of those companies' purchasing contracts. To be honest, I think that the lower end of your estimate/higher end of mine, ie around 15 is probably not far from right for 5 cellar door. I really wouldn't think that 20 or more is - that to me would be a cellar door price of 7-8 (8.50-10) so well above BA's threshold, and I do think that my original lower end of 12 was too low (probably 3.50-4). I haven't had those discussions for a long time, but I seem to remember that a 10 retail bottle typically has about 3 worth of wine in it and a 5 bottle not even 0.50. Shocking stuff when you think of the amount of work and love that can go into those bottles, but that is unfortunately all too common in the food industry whereby producers get very little for their work.
Majestic has single product lines which sell in excess of 1m units and when you include other product lines from same importer/agency then individual contracts would be on a scale similar to BAs total annual as indicated on that document. They also bottle stuff shipped to UK in bladder as well as consolidate shipments to bring overall shipment cost down which i doubt BA would be able to do, certainly not to the same degree.
Based on what I know, Aldi probably order similar volumes if not slightly more than Majestic and the other multiples vastly, vastly more.
TMM
#45
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Based on that published tender document assuming total volume for BA of ~4m bottles, both Majestic and Aldi would be buying in significantly larger quantities.
Majestic has single product lines which sell in excess of 1m units and when you include other product lines from same importer/agency then individual contracts would be on a scale similar to BAs total annual as indicated on that document. They also bottle stuff shipped to UK in bladder as well as consolidate shipments to bring overall shipment cost down which i doubt BA would be able to do, certainly not to the same degree.
Based on what I know, Aldi probably order similar volumes if not slightly more than Majestic and the other multiples vastly, vastly more.
TMM
For instance: do BA have a special relationship with Laurent Perrier? Do they have dibs on Grand Siecle?
Another thing to consider is whether airlines should serve wines that available in local retailers. Does that feeling of exclusivity havr to be maintained?