TOP OF THE CLASS

As travel restrictions eased across the world, the winners of our inflight wine awards impressed returning passengers

- HANNAH BRANDLER

Following two years of route disruptions and restrictions on inflight services, the world has reopened and travel is back in full force. This also signalled the end of socially distanced tastings and the return to a normal judging process for our Cellars in the Sky awards, which have been running since 1985.

Late last year, a panel of expert judges convened at Haberdashers' Hall, in Smithfield, London, to select the best bottles served by airlines in business and first class in 2022. The judges were John Worontschak, Helen McGinn, Masters of Wine Peter McCombie and Sarah Abbott, and head judge Charles Metcalfe, founder of the International Wine Challenge.

"The standard has been more even than previous years," explains Metcalfe. "There were very few wines that we felt did not perform." Thankfully the pandemic did not lead to a drop in quality, with airlines continuing to invest in top-class beverages.

HOW THE AWARDS WORK

The competition is open to any carrier that serves wine in business or first class on mid- or long-haul routes.

Each airline is invited to enter two reds, two whites, a rosé, a sparkling, and a fortified or dessert wine from both cabins. They can compete in as many categories as they like, but to be eligible for the Best Overall Cellar award they must enter at least one red, white and sparkling. For 2022, 22 airlines entered.

All tasting is blind, with the branding of bottles hidden beneath black bags labelled with a letter and two numbers - FC1, for instance, means the first flight of first class white wines, with the number differentiating each entry. The judges are unaware of the wine make or the airline that entered it, eliminating any unconscious bias. Working in pairs, the judges taste half of the entries for each flight, with both teams putting forward their favourite bottles before re-tasting the final selection and marking them out of 100.