Tasting wine at 30,000 feet

Why do wines taste so different at 30,000 feet compared to ground level? Not that I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this first hand, but apparently the wine changes, or rather we perceive the wine as being different.

One airline putting in the effort to research the perfect wines for the air is British Airways. I’m sure they’re not the only airline who see the importance of a wine list, but they are quite open to showing us behind the scenes.

This video shows BA taking wine seriously on the ground, and then in the air.

Food is even more difficult to get right at 30,000 feet. Last year Heston Blumenthal tried to revolutionise airline food – check out this YouTube video. With people’s taste sensors not functioning as they would at ground level, there’s the added difficulty of delivering a good standard of cooked food in the air. He found the ovens dried out the meals, so in true Heston style, he tried to prepare the food fresh on board the aircraft. Have you ever flown cattle class, Heston? Barely room to swing a cat let alone cook a gourmet meal.

Still, his efforts were commendable. Fortunately, serving wine is a little more straight forward.

Thanks @pilotmanEI for forwarding the video link. He is pilotman!

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