EVA recognized as wine lovers’ way to fly in two categories

TAIPEI – Sipping a great glass of white wine or champagne at 30,000 feet is among the ultimate luxuries of travel and London-based Business Traveller judges the best airlines have to offer every year in its Cellars in the Sky Awards. The international travel publication has just revealed its 2013 winners and singled out EVA Air in the Best Business Class White and Best Business Class Sparkling categories.

EVA won the Gold Medal first place award for Best Business Class White with Chassagne Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 2010 and its second Gold Medal first place award for Best Business Class Sparkling with Dom Perignon Vintage 2004. EVA began pouring the Montrachet in 2013. It is made with grapes from 50-year-old vines and described by wine experts as having an adjustable acidity balanced with a focused and delicate flavor. Wine experts rank it among the top white wines in the world. EVA began serving Dom Perignon when it introduced its luxurious Royal Laurel Class business cabin in 2011. A lively champagne with vibrant flavor, Dom Perignon is especially popular among business travelers.

“As we continue to upgrade our cabin services, we are also elevating the standards for the wines and spirits that we offer our business travelers. We are constantly on the lookout, not only for business travel trends but also for ways to innovate and improve our passenger experience,” said Austin Cheng, President of EVA Air.

For example, in addition to fine wines and champagne, EVA began offering delicate Laduree Macaroons from Paris and Yoku Moku butter cookies from Japan on flights to selected destinations in 2013. Special deserts such as these are unexpected but delicious treats for Royal Laurel Class passengers. While items such as the macaroons are fragile and especially difficult to preserve inflight, they enhance the travel experience.

Business Traveller has been identifying the best wines airlines serve onboard in its Cellars in the Sky competition every year since 1985. This year, 28 airlines entered the tasting, including Emirates, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and more. The magazine’s panel of experts judged wines served in first and business classes in Red, White, Sparkling, Fortified and Sweet categories. Among the four judges who independently scored the wines this year were:

• Charles Metcalfe, co-chairman, International Wine Challenge and food and wine matching guru,
• Peter McCombie, Master of Wine and top restaurant wine consultant,
• Robert Joseph, author and wine critic, and
• Richard Bampfield, Master of Wine and wine consultant.

To or from Europe, Oceania, North America and cities in every region of Asia, EVA offers more easy, one-stop connections to more major business and leisure destinations than any other airline. From its six North America gateways, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, it also offers more flights to Taipei than any other airline. Travelers and wine aficionados can learn more about Business Traveller and its annual Cellars in the Sky competition

Sourced: TravelDailyNews