Emirates invests heavily in “world-class wine”
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Emirates is investing heavily in its wine programme.
In 2015 alone the airline purchased a record of more than 13 million bottles of wine worth US $140 million, double the amount spent in the previous year.
“In every aspect of our business, our aim is to provide the best experience for our customers and we have curated a wine programme that is reflective of that promise,” said Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline.
“Over the years, we’ve built a wine programme that has garnered the interest of exclusive vineyards in the world, and we are proud of the fact that our wine lists are comparable to what you might find in a top restaurant in the best cities around the world.”
Clark added that customers have “expressed their surprise and delight” at the variety and quality of wines that Emirates offers on board, and “they wonder how on earth we manage to procure such rare or exclusive vintages”.
“The answer is long-term planning and investment,” he revealed.
The wines are for customers across all three cabins, and most will only be served on board in seven to 10 years.
In 2015, Emirates’ customers consumed 11.4 million bottles of wine across all classes, with 10 million single-serve bottles in Economy Class alone. This was a 27% increase from the year before, when nine million bottles of wine were consumed across all classes.
Since 2006, Emirates has invested $690 million on wines, some of which will only be ready for drinking in 2025. The Emirates wine cellar, the largest of any airline, currently stores 2.2 million bottles of vintage wines.
Of the 2015 wine purchases for First Class and Business Class, close to half – 1.8 million bottles – came from the Bordeaux region. Bordeaux wines have always been a mainstay of the Emirates wine offering with 60% of the red wine in First Class and Business Class coming from the region.
“Bordeaux wines are the core of our offering as they pair really well with the extensive menus we have on board – from white and red meats to vegetarian options. We choose these wines not only for their flavour, but also because they maintain their quality in the cabin environment,” said Sir Tim.
In the last year, Emirates added 10 more wines on offer each day, and now has 70 different champagnes, wines and ports on its flights on an average day in all classes across its international network of over 150 destinations.
Other recent additions to the Emirates wine cellar include Italian wines such as Solaia and Ornellaia for First Class and the highly in-demand Super Tuscan wine Tignanello, which will be added to the Business Class offering in the coming years.
Emirates continues to purchase from the main wine producing regions of the world including Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa to feature in the regionally tailored wine lists.
For more information or to find out which wines will be served on each flight click here.
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