As travel resumes, Korean Air has revamped and unveiled its newly introduced wine selections for its first class, business and economy classes, which will be served on board starting from March 2023.
The five-star airline has collaborated with Marc Almert, winner of World’s Best Sommelier competition in 2019, to pick out 50 newly-selected inflight wines from a 900 wine list. The final wines include 19 First Class, 21 Prestige Class, and 10 Economy Class selections.
The wines came from a long list of 900 wines in a variety of categories and then were whittled down to a shortlist of 150 wines of various grape varieties, vintages and regions, including France, Spain, USA and Australia.
The shortlisted wines are then blind-tasted and evaluated by Almert and Sang Jun Lee, sommelier at KAL Hotel Network, on October 11 and 12 at the Grand Hyatt Incheon Hotel before the list was officially announced on October 13.
Noting the influence of unique cabin environment on perception of taste, Almert said, “It was a huge task selecting the wines from so many fine options on the long list. The cabin pressure and a drier environment can distort the taste of some wines and we took this into consideration and chose fruity and aromatic wines that can perfectly compliment the inflight cuisine.”
A few new additions have made to First Class wine list including Australia’s Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz and Champagne Henri Giraud Ay Grand Cru Brut MV.
For Prestige Class, La Perriere Megalithe Sancerre, a white wine from the Loire Valley, stood out while economic passengers will get to taste Nik Weis Urban Riesling, produced in Moselle, Germany.
According to the airline, it will gradually introduce the new onboard wines from March 2023, after the selection follow-up procedures are completed, such as finalizing supply contracts with the wineries.
