Case in point: More than 9 million glasses of Champagne were poured on Emirates flights last year. Along with Costco, the company is one of, if not the largest, buyer of Dom Pérignon in the world.
Some of the wines the airline bought many years ago for $350 would now run more than $2,000 a bottle. Buyers attend the futures market in the spring and place orders. And most chateaus have some back stock that they could have put out on the market 10 years ago but wanted to see how the wines age over time. So Emirates will also buy some stock that is not on the market and still in the cellars and release it earlier on the flight. "We buy early, and we buy smart," Heymeijer said.
Bordeaux and Beyond
The airline has been expanding its list, with recent purchases from Burgundy locations in Chevalier-Montrachet and Échezeaux, and in 2015 it purchased 2,000 cases—equivalent to 10 percent of the total production—from the Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru region, considered to be one of the finest whites in Burgundy. It added such Italian wines as Solaia and Ornellaia for first-class fliers and the Tuscan wine Tignanello for those in business class. You can find New World wines, as well, such as Mount Mary Chardonnay from Australia and a Stag's Leap Chardonnay from Napa Valley.
But it's more Bordeaux than anything else, and by the middle of this year, a number of first-growth options will appear on the menu. The area is well suited to the airline's needs: It has the volume, quality, and name recognition—Margaux, Cheval Blanc, and Latour are chateaus that are part of an oenophile's vocabulary, wines that they would look forward to drinking en route to their next destination.
"We serve Château Palmer in business class. Most airlines, you’d be lucky if they served that to you in first class," Heymeijer said.
Emirates embraces some risk and buys in years that are not known as being terrific vintage years, knowing it can stash them in the Burgundy facility and wait for them either to be rediscovered or to ripen to their best selves.
"People have written off the 2012 and 2014," he said, "but I've tasted some of them in the last few months, and the right chateaus have made some beautiful wines." As for the 2015 vintage? "I’m very excited," he said. "Not as good as 2010, but in Saint Emilion, Passat, and Margaux, it will be very good, probably better than the 2010."
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.