NEWS AND OFFERS: Cellars in the Sky results announced, BA Holidays offer, Accor sale and Buy Marriott bonus

Cellars In The Sky 2023 results announced

The winning airline wines served inflight have been revealed on businesstraveller.com. The awards celebrate the best business and first-class wines served by airlines last year. The judges for the 2023 awards were Charles Metcalfe (Head Judge), Masters of Wine Peter McCombie, Sam Caporn, and winemaker John Worontschak. Qantas scooped ten excellent gold awards, including Best Overall Cellar, Best Business Class Cellar and Best First Class Cellar.

In first class and Qantas, gold medal winners included Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. In business class, gold winners include Corsair, Lufthansa, Oman Air, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and United Airlines. Airlines have to agree to enter and supply the wines to the panel, so it won’t include every airline. 

It’s ironic that BA scored a silver for sparkling wine with Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, seeing as they have just discontinued it. I recently tried the Pommery Louise in the Concorde Room. Although the taste was complex and rich, which would be my sort of champagne, I was surprised by how fizzy it was and the size of the bubbles, which detracted from the pleasure of drinking it for me. Normally, I would expect it to have fine bubbles.

I was also surprised that Qatar Airways’ Laurent Perrier Alexandra Rosé was not mentioned for business class, but it may not have been entered. 

First Class

Best First Class Sparkling

• Gold: Qantas – Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, 2008, France
• Silver: British Airways – Champagne Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle NV, France
• Silver: Joint All Nippon Airways; Cathay Pacific – Champagne Krug, 2004, France
• Bronze : Malaysia Airlines – Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, 2007, France

Best First Class White

• Gold: Qantas – Tolpuddle Chardonnay, 2021, Tasmania, Australia
• Gold: Malaysia Airlines – Château Couhins-Lurton, 2020, France
• Silver: Qantas – Penfolds Reserve Bin 18A, 2018, Australia
• Bronze: Japan Airlines – Henri Bourgeois Sancerre d’Antan, 2016, France

Best First Class Red

• Gold: Qantas – Penfolds RWT Bin 798 Barossa Valley Shiraz, 2018, Australia
• Silver: British Airways – Mullineux Syrah Swartland, 2020, South Africa
• Bronze: Korean Air – Shafer TD-9, 2019, California, US
• Bronze: Korean Air – Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz, 2016, Australia

Best First Class Fortified

• Gold: Qantas – Morris of Rutherglen Old Premium Rare Topaque, NV, Australia
• Silver: Lufthansa – Niepoort Tawny 20 Year Old Port, NV, Portugal
• Bronze: Qatar Airways – Graham’s 40-Year-Old Tawny Port, Portugal
• Highly Commended: Korean Air – Château Guiraud, Sauternes, 2002, France

Best First Class Rosé

• Gold: Qatar Airways – Château d’Esclans, 2021, France
• Silver: American Airlines – Colombo Cape Bleue Rosé, 2022, France
• Bronze: British Airways – Caves d’Esclans Rock Angel, 2021, France

First Class Best-presented Wine List

• Gold: Singapore Airlines
• Silver: Lufthansa
• Bronze: Japan Airlines
• First Class Cellar
• Gold: Qantas
• Silver: Malaysia Airlines
• Bronze: All Nippon Airways

Highly Commended: Japan Airlines

Business Class

Best Business Class Sparkling

• Gold: Singapore Airlines – Champagne Piper-Heidsieck, 2014, France
• Silver: Qantas – Champagne Duval Leroy Femme de Champagne, 2002, France
• Bronze: Korean Air – Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Rare Champagne, 2007, France

Best Business White

• Gold: Qantas – Flametree S.R.S Chardonnay, 2022, Margaret River, Australia
• Silver: Singapore Airlines – Deep Woods Estate Margaret River Chardonnay, 2021, Australia
• Bronze: Qatar Airways – Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay, 2018, Australia

Best Business Class Red

• Gold: Qantas – Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz, 2022, Australia
• Gold: Qantas – Dalwhinnie Mesa Shiraz, 2020, Australia
• Silver: Qatar – Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz, 2019, Australia
• Bronze: Oman Air – Penfolds Max’s Shiraz Cabernet, 2017, Australia

Best Business Class Rosé

• Gold: United Airlines – Whispering Angel Rosé, 2022, Château d’Esclans, France
• Silver: Qatar Airways – Rosé et Or Château Minuty, 2021, France
• Bronze: Delta Air Lines – La Fête du Rosé, 2020, France
• Bronze: JetBlue – Triennes Rosé, 2022, France
• Best Business Class Fortified
• Gold: Oman Air – Château SUAU, 2016, France
• Gold: Joint – Lufthansa; TAP Air Portugal – Graham’s 10-Year-Old Tawny Port, Portugal
• Silver: Singapore Airlines – Morris Classic Liqueur Muscat, Australia
• Bronze: Qantas – Baileys of Glenrowan Founders Series Classic Muscat, Australia

Business Class Best-presented Wine List

• Gold: Corsair
• Silver: Lufthansa
• Bronze: Singapore Airlines
• Business Class Cellars
• Gold: Qantas
• Silver: Qatar Airways
• Bronze: Singapore Airlines
• Highly Commended: Eva Air

Overall Cellar

• Gold: Qantas
• Silver: Qatar Airways
• Bronze: Singapore Airlines

Best Alliance

• Gold: oneworld
• Silver: Star Alliance
• Bronze: SkyTeam

BA Holidays offers

British Airways Holidays has launched a range of city break offers from £142pp in economy (based on two sharing) to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The offer is for selected short-haul destinations, including Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Turin, Edinburgh, Nice, Prague, Stockholm, and Verona. There are also business class holidays with return business class flights and a 4 star hotel from an extra £199 pp.  You can travel on selected dates between 1 March and 31 March 2024 inclusive but must book by 19 February. 

You can find the offer page here.

Accor sale

Accor has launched a new sale with exclusive access for ALL members for the first 3 days. There is 20% off this spring, on bookings of minimum 2 nights, when you book by 28th February 2024, for stays between 1st April and 27th May 2024.

The sale applies to participating hotels across across Europe (including the UK) and North Africa. As a member of ALL, you’ll enjoy up to 10% extra off. 

There are some upmarket brands included such as Sofitel, Pullman, Mondrian and MGalley included. In the UK, you may be interested in the Sofitel T5, which is attached to the terminal. In London, the Mondrian Shoreditch is participating in the sale along with Pullman St Pancras and Sofitel St James.

The other good news is that you don’t need to pay in advance, and the reservation can be changed or cancelled in line with each hotel’s policy.

You can find the offer page here.

Marriott Buy bonus

Marriott has launched a new Buy Points bonus with a 40% bonus. If you are planning on staying in a high end pricey hotel, it is always worth looking at whether it is cheaper to buy the points than pay cash. If you go down this route, make sure you check availability and book immediately after your points purchase to make sure it is still available. 

There is a 40% points bonus when you buy before 31 March. If you are not a member, you need to wait 30 days after joining to buy points, so it is worth signing up for free now if you think you may want to at some point. 

The maximum you can buy is 100,000 points, which gives a total of 140,000 for $1250. 

You can find the buy points page here.