"Just because you’ve got the money doesn’t mean you can buy," said Heymeijer. "They want you to do justice to the wine."

The airline added space for bigger Champagne glasses instead of the traditional flute, so fliers get a more generous glass than what a restaurant might pour. Reds and whites also have a larger glass. Wines are not served out of a bottle but instead decanted into a personal carafe. And Heymeijer maintained that the airline is constantly working from an engineering perspective to provide better humidity and air pressure in its cabins.

"The conditions inside our aircraft are the same as if you were in a mountain in the Swiss Alps," he said. "If you were in a restaurant in the Alps, you wouldn't be asking a sommelier about the altitude."

Buy Early, Buy Smart
The volume involved still requires some compromises.

"They aren't going after houses with microscopic output," said Oldman. "It just wouldn't make sense." Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, for example, makes only 450 cases a year. But other chateaus, including Smith Haute Lafitte, Latour, Haut-Brion, and Mouton-Rothschild, make their wines in much larger quantities.

"We were able to buy decent volumes at first," said Heymeijer. One of the first investments he made was in a dessert wine, a 2005 Sauternes from Château d'Yquem in Bordeaux. "It is one of the grand wines of the world," Heymeijer continued. "It is unbelievably beautiful and intense." It sat in the storage facility until a couple of months ago, when the airline started serving it.

"It’s an investment. We look at it like a commodity."

The Sauternes has been a huge success—the airline can't keep it in stock now—but this method comes with risks, as well, trying to split the difference between hard-core aficionados and those who want to feel they are living large.

"Most collectors want their d'Yquem to be 30 or 40 years old," said Charles Antin, senior wine specialist for Zachys. "A 2005 Sauternes is just a baby."

But Oldman said that getting those bragging rights, and the loyalty, of a high-net-worth traveler is worth the the acquisition cost. "It's reinforcing the luxury experience," he said.