No More Dom Perignon In Business Class

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: October 26, 2014

39 comments

As least in terms of “mass” name recognition, Dom Perignon is considered to be one of the best first class airplane champagnes out there. Personally I’m not a huge fan of Dom Perignon, at least the 2003 vintage, which up until recently was primarily the one being served on planes.

Their 2004 vintage was much better, though still not as good as my beloved Krug.

Krug

Over the past couple of years the 2004 vintage has become the norm for airlines serving Dom Perignon in first class, so that’s good news.

Anyway, historically a few airlines have stood out when it comes to their business class champagne selection.

Back in the day, Jet Airways served Dom Perignon in business class. Through all their financial troubles they’ve eliminated it, in favor of Billecart-Salmon Brut. That’s a perfectly nice business class champagne, though not in the same league as Dom Perignon.

Billecart-Salmon-Brut

More recently, EVA Air, the Taiwanese Star Alliance carrier, has served Dom Perignon in their business class (Royal Laurel Class). EVA Air offers an absolutely fantastic business class product, perhaps with the exception of their food. Of course I’m more than happy to sacrifice food for some good champagne. 😉

EVA-Air-Business-Class

Anyway, I’ve received quite a few messages and comments lately from people pointing out that EVA Air is no longer serving Dom Perignon in Royal Laurel Class.

Instead they’re now serving Veuve Cliquot La Grande Dame 2004. The most common response I’ve gotten is “Veuve, really?!” I think it’s worth pointing out this isn’t the entry level Veuve that every Real Housewives franchise seems to have a sponsorship deal with.

The La Grande Dame variety is actually fantastic, and I think I even prefer it to Dom 2004 (definitely prefer it to Dom 2003). I was also served it in the spring in Lufthansa first class, as it was part of their champagne rotation.

Veuve-La-Grande-Dame

So if you’ve been looking forward to Dom on EVA, you’re out of luck. That being said, I’d argue the replacement is at least as good, even if it doesn’t come with quite the same name recognition.

On the plus side, you’ll still get a Rimowa amenity kit. 😉

Rimowa-Amenity-Kit

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Yahtzee Guest

November 3, 2014, 1:08 pm

Okay, this is a tangent but . . . I was flying in Delta business class from Amsterdam to Boston yesterday and asked to have champagne (certainly not Dom or Krug or Veuve) with my salmon appetizer. The more senior flight attendant asked for it from the galley (wasn't on her cart) and her colleague said it's only available pre-departure. The more senior one who was helping me said -- you mean the glasses? The reply -- no, it's only served then; we just covered that in training. The one helping me went and opened another bottle for me, and we both agreed that's very strange. Particularly since it's on the menu.

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Ivan Y Diamond

October 28, 2014, 5:39 pm

Hmm... Never tried LGD but don't really care for Veuve because of the blend they use (much prefer Krug). We did some extensive champagne testing recently with a sommelier (the "group" was only the two of us so we spent 2-2.5 hours instead of just 1) and figured out we prefer <i>blanc de blancs</i> champagnes (exclusively from Chardonnay grapes). Something like Pierre Peters Cuvee de Reserve Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru can be had for around $60. P.S. After tasting champagne out of flutes and out of wine glass side-by-side, it became clear why many are switching to wine glasses :D

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John-Paul Guest

October 28, 2014, 4:51 am

Krug is a great wine, no doubt. That said, as first class Champagnes go, I actually prefer the Salon that JAL serve (when available). Salon is fantastic, and I would put it above Krug's multiple vintage on my list.

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snic Diamond

October 27, 2014, 1:31 pm

Reminds me of the time my fiancee and I tried about 6 different sparkling wines to serve with our wedding cake. We picked out a range of prices and brands and tasted them blind. The overall favorite was the domestic $5/bottle brand that we threw in for laughs. This one won out mostly because it was slightly sweeter than the others and it complemented the cake nicely, whereas the others lost their subtlety and complexity to the sweet cake. At 30,000 feet, you definitely can't get all that subtlety and complexity, which is why I'd be just as happy, if not happier, drinking some robustly-flavored near-plonk in a plane than expensive wine that would disappoint me. One of the best wines I had on a plane was the Malbec that United used to serve in business class to Europe about 7 or 8 years ago. It retails for $10 bottle. (Actually it sucked when I bought some to drink on the ground - but I loved it on the plane. Go figure.)

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Luis Diamond

October 27, 2014, 12:44 pm

@eponymous - did you even read what jakc said? He said that even "experts" which i'm guessing he's referring to people with actual wine knowledge couldn't tell the difference between cheap and expensive champagne. And then you reply with text that says average people couldn't tell the difference but people with wine training or "experts" could tell the difference. what is your point?

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