United Airlines is raising the wine standard: $60 bottles in business class are leaving American and Delta behind starting next month

from Gary Leff on December 23, 2024

United Airlines is considered America’s flagship airline with an extensive route network. They offer a consistent, if hardly leading, business class seat. And they’re broadly working to improve their premium experiences. At Delta Investor Day, the president told the competition that they still have too far to go to ever catch up.

Early in Scott Kirby’s tenure at the airline, they pushed for savings on their wine program after going 300% over budget on the launch of their Polaris-branded business class soft product with wine.

Now United is returning to a real investment in this part of the product, with better business class wine than I’ve ever seen before from United, as first reported Live and let’s fly.

Starting January 1, 2025, United will introduce Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Champagne in Polaris Business Class along with three additional new wines:

• Freemark Abbey Cabernet
• E. Guigal Chateauneuf-du-Pape
• Luca ‘G Lot’ Chardonnay

United previously offered wine flights for tastings in Polaris

The champagne retails for a real $55 bottle.

Luca G Lot is a delightful Chardonnay from Mendoza, a legitimate $30+ retail bottle that has received critical acclaim. Freemark Abbey is a $60 retail taxi that I’ve really liked in the past. Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape itself is a $50 bottle, although I haven’t tried it myself yet.

From an internal airline memo:

From January 1st, our Polaris customers will have the opportunity to enjoy Laurent-Perrier’s La Cuvée Champagne. This fresh and elegant blend of 55% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 10% Meunier is aged to perfection in the cellars of the Laurent Perrier house for four years. La Cuvée goes wonderfully with our diverse menus or as a standalone toast to the friendly sky! Highly rated 93 points by James Suckling and 91 points by Wine Spectator, we are proud to be the only airline in North America to serve Laurent-Perriers La Cuvée. Stay tuned for some exciting Laurent Perrier activations on board soon.

While JetBlue has historically been known for $100 wines in business class, United’s investment in wine and bottle selection is truly remarkable, well ahead of Delta and of course American, as well as British Airways and Lufthansa.

This is despite Delta increasing its own investments. Although not yet officially announced, Delta will partner with Taittinger.

Both Taittinger and Laurent-Perrier are better than what American Airlines flew First We flew business class in business class earlier this year, and of course American ditched real champagne altogether in favor of Italian sparkling wine in business class last year.

My experience flying American First Class to and from Sydney last year produced some truly appalling wines. They didn’t even have an Australian bottle on board on either flight and their Chardonnay retailed for $8.

In general, my favorite wine programs are Singapore’s (very thoughtful and route-specific selection), Emirates (luxury investment) and Qantas (for a good Shiraz). Many airlines primarily serve prestige champagne, but I’ve never seen anyone other than Emirates serve Chateau d’Yquem.

Even though most people don’t know much about wine, they consider it a luxury item. Delta made a point years ago to avoid bottles whose retail prices were too low (so people wouldn’t think they were poor quality, regardless of taste) and whose labels were too plain.

Back when Ken Chase was selecting wines for American wines, his approach was to select “fruit bombs” – very fruity wines that retained their character even in the air. A lot of subtle wines, great wines, just don’t taste great in the air and aren’t worth the price.

Singapore has a unique approach. They have a pressurized tasting room. Usually, tasting tests of wines and choosing what people like doesn’t help because they don’t match how those wines taste in the air. Singapore has designed the conditions on the ground so that you can experience things closer to actual flight conditions. Dry cabin air, pressurized at 6,000 or 8,000 feet, will leave you feeling parched.

For me, red wines are often served too cold, which softens their fruit and brings out their acidity. If you are served cold red wine (a little chilly is usually fine and even desirable), wait before drinking or hold the glass in your hands to warm it. Fruity Pinots work well. I find that champagne in the air offers the closest experience to the same experience as on the ground.

I’m looking forward to seeing how United’s Freemark Abbey cab performs at altitude.

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