British Airways launches new champagnes in First Class, ends Grand Siècle

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• Mouse says:

  3 Feb3 February 05:30

  I will enjoy trying these, although I have to say if the £150-200 retail price range was their brief then I think they’re mad to have gone with anything other than Krug.

  • JDB says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:32

    @Mouse – LVMH won’t sell Krug at a price they are willing to pay and may not actually want to sell it to them. It is sold in a very different way to the other houses in the stable, production is more limited and it sells itself. Veuve/La Grande Dame, they will be product placing for very little money.

    • No longer Entitled says:

      3 Feb3 February 08:43

      Qatar used to serve Krug. They may still do, but I have not flown them for a while.

      • Talay says:

        3 Feb3 February 13:36

        Not in first LHR-DOH-BKK last July and again in September.

    • Mouse says:

      3 Feb3 February 09:23

      Interesting insight @JDB, thank-you

    • Cicero says:

      3 Feb3 February 10:44

      BA has served Krug, Tattinger Comtes de Champagne and a vintage Alfred Gratien in F at different times.

• Tariq says:

  3 Feb3 February 05:38

  Last time I was in the Concorde Room (mid 2023), LPGS was self pour on the terrace as part of the afternoon tea display – don’t know if that was an anomaly though.

  • Andrew J says:

    3 Feb3 February 06:39

    Yes standard practice on the terrace.

• meta says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:01

  I thought Swiss serves LPGS in their First class, quick Google search seems to confirm this.

  • meta says:

    3 Feb3 February 06:05

    Just saw a comment on another blog that Swiss also recently changed. 🙁

• Alex G says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:18

  “Grand Siècle was the only genuinely premium drink that British Airways served”

  I thought Johnny Walker Blue Label was premium, but what do I know.

  • meta says:

    3 Feb3 February 10:20

    While it does fit the label premium by price, it’s still a blend. Fits BA ethos nicely given that they are neither low-cost nor premium airline.

• Andrew J says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:38

  Champagne can only come from France. Why are BA suggesting otherwise?

  • Tony says:

    3 Feb3 February 07:36

    Presumably whoever wrote the PR guff knows nothing about wine and protected status. Thankfully they aren’t in the purchasing team 😉

    • Alex Sm says:

      3 Feb3 February 08:05

      With the money BA pays to its staff, I’m not surprised that they don’t literally know what they are talking about as they are priced out of this category anyway

  • Nobby says:

    3 Feb3 February 07:40

    Well said, and a common error.
    Champagne – always written with a capital C – cannot come from ‘around the globe’. It’s a region in France, end of.

  • Ken says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:38

    There is a narrow loophole meaning some Californian Champagne can be legally described as thus.

    • MilesOnPoint says:

      3 Feb3 February 09:56

      Reminiscent of the iconic Orson Welles “Champagne” commercial for Paul Masson…

      Worth a Google if you’ve not seen it before.

      • Chris C says:

        3 Feb3 February 10:56

        One of finest videos on the internet.

        • MilesOnPoint says:

          3 Feb3 February 13:03

          @Chris C – Correct 😂

        • Bagoly says:

          3 Feb3 February 18:42

          And thanks to you and (a comment on that video) I have discovered today that the Treaty of Versailles:
          1) includes an obligation on Germany to honour regional appellations (so France was the origin of such concerns)
          2) was never ratified by the USA.

          The knowledge benefits of reading HfP!

    • Tomas Eriksson says:

      3 Feb3 February 10:21

      However, those Californian “Champagnes” (which usually aren’t the best sparkling wines from California) can not be sold as “Champagne” in the EU, and UK has kept EU rules on protected designations of origin.

  • The Original Nick. says:

    3 Feb3 February 09:06

    Exactly what I thought!

    • The Original Nick. says:

      3 Feb3 February 09:07

      That was agreeing with Andrew J

      • RussellH says:

        3 Feb3 February 10:28

        Yes, you would have thought that someone would have developed proper threading on Windows by now

  • aseftel says:

    3 Feb3 February 09:44

    It’s such a weird mistake (even if Champagne could come from around the globe their examples don’t), that I wonder if there was an original proposal and draft with sparkling wines outside Champagne. Then, after someone decided Champagne only, the marketer just did a find and replace on the existing copy.

  • meta says:

    3 Feb3 February 10:19

    While it does fit the label premium by price, it’s still a blend. Fits BA ethos nicely given that they are neither low-cost nor premium airline.

    • meta says:

      3 Feb3 February 10:20

      That was a comment for @Alex G

  • Dubious says:

    3 Feb3 February 21:48

    I read it was ‘from distributors’ around the globe…
    They don’t fly everything out before flying it back again on *all* routes do they? I’d hope the bottles loaded in SYD got there from France by boat.

    • Dubious says:

      3 Feb3 February 21:50

      *as* not ‘was’.

• Ross says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:40

  Pommery is self pour in CCR during afternoon tea hours and sometimes late into the evening (depending on how lazy the staff are, they would rather not interact and just leave it out – which is usually all the time).

• Tony says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:42

  Obviously LP wouldn’t reduce their price for Grand Siecle so BA found their cost savings elsewhere….!

• Dave1234 says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:57

  ‘champagnes from around the globe’ 😂 oh dear

  • Flyoff says:

    3 Feb3 February 07:34

    I wonder if BA may be getting a letter from the Comité Champagne is only available from the Champagne region. BA’s marketing department appear a little confused

    • Been There! says:

      3 Feb3 February 07:48

      Quite …….. and not only it seems, BA’s marketing dept!! The whole exercise is a mass buy, big discount exercise. I would much rather see proper quality ie Taittinger Comtes de Champagne which to my palate is the gold standard of vintage blanc de blancs. Numbers two and three of champagnes as a whole? Well Krug (NV), then Cristal. For reasons of production volume, we will never see the splendid Ruinart served up by any airline – on the ground or in the air. However it is something to savour whilst whiling away the evenings planning your next trip! It is now owned by LVMH but exudes quality and perfection every time we enjoy a bottle. Brut, Rose, Blanc de
      blancs and Dom Ruinart – blanc and rose are all magnificent…….. Go try!

      • Stu_N says:

        3 Feb3 February 08:42

        +1 for Ruinart. Their BdB is my favourite grand marque champagne and excellent value too for the quality. Prefer it to many of the prestige cuvées I have tried though never had Dom Ruinart. I always think of it as a great wine that is also sparkling.

        • His Holyness says:

          3 Feb3 February 09:57

          Lufthansa have Ruinart BdB from time to time in the German FCL/T.

        • Camille55 says:

          3 Feb3 February 10:52

          +2 for the Ruinart.

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