shillard said:
Which airline has the best wine list?
None.
Opening wines that are meant to have good bottle age while they are still in nappies, at 30,000 feet, is not good.
Shillard, while I agree with your point, surely the question is still worth discussion.
As an analogy, if someone asks which airline has the best beds in Business Class, it wouldn't help much to answer, "None. Lying on a flat airline seat at 30,000 feet in a room with 30 strangers is not good. Nothing compares with my bed at home." Instead, I would expect a comparison between BA's horizontal but short and hard "bed" and QF's longer, wider, slightly softer, but angled "bed".
Of course a young, shaken up wine at altitude is not revealing its true colours, but it is still a fact that the wines served by some airlines taste better in the prevailing conditions than those served by other airlines.
Using the example at hand, I'd rather drink a 98 Vat 1 Semillon than some of the South African rubbish I've been served in Economy.
(Incidentally you are quite right about the 98 Vat 1 - last year I went to a Tyrrells dinner with vertical tastings of Vat 1 Semillons and Vat 47 Chardonnays from 1981 onwards, and 7 years is not enough ageing.)