BenA

Plus, you can always turn a questionable red into Tinto de verano by asking for a second cup and a can of Fresca. Not that I'd have ever done this onboard. Ahem.

dilbertsdaddy

I am neither a wine snob or expert, I just know what tastes good. Pretty much the only time I drink wine is in J on an airplane (I am a beer drinker).

I fly DL/AF/KL pretty evenly. AF has the best wine by far, regardless of price. So whatever DL is paying for wine consulting should be redirected towards the food. Just ask AF which wine to serve.

When in rome.......i.e. when on KLM drink just Heinnie

dinanm3atl

Sometimes there are small benefits to not drinking. None of this matters to me. Generally speaking the water and sprite are all the same

ExArkie

Latest numbers I've seen (from January this year) shows Michigan #6 in terms of volume of wine produced (1.2 M cases), and #9 in number of wineries (184). Minnesota has roughly one-half the number of wineries as Michigan, but I wasn't given the volume production numbers from Minnesota.

I've had some really nice wines from the area around Traverse City, MI. Never tasted any from Minnesota...looking to change that as soon as I can make my way there.

Regardless of the quality, however, I cannot imagine that the median premium cabin passenger could even be convinced to try wine from either state. You might get by with Oregon or Washington in some situations, but American domestic wine drinkers generally don't venture outside of California, which is not too surprising given that about 85% of domestic wine production is from California.

drminn

Well, if you read it it must be true.

The Situation

Interesting stats about MI and MN wine and completely disagree about people not even willing to try it. I would imagine they can make some good white wines up there - growing season is probably a bit too short for red varietals. I don't think people care all that much where their wine comes from, and might cut DL a little more slack for serving mediocre/bad wine if they are attempting to source from local producers. The people that are fussy about wine understand that "good" wines can be produced throughout the world, so long as the grower understands the grapes that are best suited to the climate they are grown in and the process for making a good wine, but there are limited regions that can produce "great" wines. 98% of that group would be willing to give local wines a chance. The other 50% order wine by color (red, white or pink) or by with or without bubbles, so I doubt they care (or even know) where it's grown.

hockeyinsider

Then who is drinking the wine from the other states?

ATOBTTR

I'm not a wine snob, but there is a difference; just to me usually not enough of a difference to justify the price premium for a bottle. I'm perfectly content with a $10 bottle of 14 Hands Cabernet, which I actually think is much better than more expensive bottles I've had and would be perfectly fine if DL switched to 14 Hands for its wine offerings on flights (and I'm sure they could get a bulk rate for better than $10/bottle).

The issue is ROI, though DL has appealed on some Seattle routes with Seattle-based products. The fair question is: 1) is anyone selecting a particular airline over another because of the brands of wine being served and 2) even if the answer for some passengers is "yes", is the cost to appeal to this group more or less than the gains in revenue from these passengers selecting one airline over another? (Of course the counter argument is by an airline offering "cheap" wines in their premium cabin, the product could be viewed overall as "cheap" by some, but again, what percent of passengers is this group and are they enough to significantly effect revenues?)

The Situation

Some people fly DL solely b/c of Woodford, so it's plausible that someone could choose an airline based on wine selection. Given that DL is buying at wholesale prices, the incremental investment per flight might be $20 to get a significant improvement in wine. I think that the halo effect has some merit in airline preferences and pricing power for enough of the population that its at worst a breakeven. If 2% of the population is influenced enough to spend an extra $10 to fly Delta because they perceive DL as having a premium product, on a 200 person flight DL has doubled its money.

BenA

Largely, locals.

Worldwide, I've found that the good stuff gets kept near to where it's produced - in large part because production is often too low to justify all the paperwork of exporting a highly regulated product.

A couple places I've seen this effect particularly apparent are Portugal and Switzerland. I've had some excellent bottles of wine in both regions, but in my local wine shop I can only find a few cheap Vinho Verde whites or Lisboa reds (and nothing at all from Switzerland). The swanky Douro bottles mostly stay in Europe, because... well, why bother?

Here in the US, that's true as well. California producers (and, to a lesser extent, Washington and Oregon) have enough land devoted to wine production to be able to ship across the country. But up and coming states can only produce a small amount, so they mostly sell it at tasting rooms and in local shops. There are certainly stars out there - I've got a few bottles I'm hoarding of a Virginia red grown a rock throwing distance from IAD that would delight even the snobbiest wine critic, if they didn't look at the location of origin first! I just don't think that enough production exists for a major airline to be able to supply all of their needs for a given route.

ACCDraw

ACCDraw

In my perfect world, the solution is easy.
Buy a bottle at Vino Volo or similar.
Pay DL a corkage fee - - - errr - - - unscrewtop fee.
FA opens/pours.

(Of course flying out of SLC might be a tad dry.)

SJC ORD LDR

AS serves wines from Washington and Oregon and they rotate them to feature different wineries.

I think that would be a good idea for DL to do on a lot of it's ex-SEA routes. IMO the food ex-SEA is a lot better than other hubs. I think using PNW wines would be a good idea.

BenA

You inspired me to rerun the numbers, since I had two recent Delta One menus from March hanging around (one from a flight to HKG, one from a flight to CDG.)

Long story short, I was skeptical of your hypothesis, but the data confirms that the red and white wine prices are down a few dollars across the board from last year, almost consistently about 20%. This applies to both premium and standard wine lists, but doesn't seem to have affected dessert or sparkling wines.

Interestingly, one of the cheapest bottles of all - the 2012 Cair Cuvee red wine from the standard wine list, at $14 - was my favorite that I tried of the standard menu. I'm admittedly a sucker for Ribera del Duero wines in general, so that could just be my personal preferences showing through... but it goes to prove price isn't everything. (That said, the $43 Pra "Morandina" Valpolicello on the CDG wine list was pretty spectacular.)

Delta (standard wines, not LHR/CDG premium selections)
White Wines - Average Cost 2017: $18.50/Bottle; Weighted Score: 89
White Wines - Average Cost 2018: $15/Bottle; Weighted Score 89

Red Wines - Average Cost 2017: $20.50/Bottle; Weighted Score: 88-89
Red Wines - Average Cost 2018: $17.50/Bottle; Weighted Score: 89

Port - Calem 10 Year Tawny Port (2017) - $22/bottle, 88 points
Port - Dow LBV Port 2011 (2018) - $21/bottle, 90 points

Champagne - Gardet Premier Cru Brut NV (2017)- $33/bottle, 89 points
Champagne - Gardet Premier Cru Brut NV (2018)- $37/bottle, 88 points

Delta (LHR/CDG premium selections)
White Wines - Average Cost 2017: $25/Bottle; Weighted Score: 88-89
White Wines - Average Cost 2018: $17.50/Bottle; Weighted Score: 86-90

Red Wines - Average Cost 2017: $44/Bottle; Weighted Score: 88-90
Red Wines - Average Cost 2018: $38.50/Bottle; Weighted Score: 87-91

Port - Quinta do Noval 10 Year Tawny Port 2017 - $28/bottle; 90 points
Port - Quinta do Noval 10 Year Tawny Port 2018 - $30/bottle; 89 points

Champagne - Charles Heidsieck Brut NV (2017) - $51/bottle, 91 points
Champagne - Charles Heidsieck Brut NV (2018) - $54/bottle, 91 points

SJC ORD LDR

Just wait until someone decides to serve unbranded cheap and nasty soda instead of Coke products. It'll save some money.