English Sparkling Wine Gains Altitude In British Airways Cabins
A bottle of Nyetimber English sparkling wine, part of the airline's new premium in-flight drinks selection.
English sparkling wine, once a curiosity outside the United Kingdom, is now reaching new heights—literally. British Airways has introduced a rotation of English sparkling wines, including limited prestige cuvée bottlings, to its First and Club World cabins on all long-haul flights.
The move reflects both a strategic shift and a broader confidence in the quality of English sparkling wine. Tim Jackson, the airline's Master of Wine, says this is not a temporary trial.
'As the nation's flag carrier, we are always looking at ways to champion originality and British provenance, and serving English sparkling wine across our long-haul network is a key example of that,' he says, via email.
British Airways has offered English sparkling wine in First Class for more than a decade. The addition to Club World, its business class cabin, began in 2023. But British Airways is also now the first airline to serve prestige cuvée English sparkling wines onboard.
The decision to now include prestige cuvée expressions—rare, extended-aged bottlings made from top vintages—signals how far English wine has advanced.
'A prestige cuvée is an exceptional wine made using the best grapes from outstanding vintages,' Jackson says. 'Only a handful of English wine houses produce prestige cuvée wines, which is still a relatively new phenomenon in England and a growing accolade across the wine industry.'
Sales of English sparkling wine have risen as much as 187%, from 2.2 million bottles in 2018 to 6.2 million in 2023, according to WineGB. In 2023 alone, the U.K. produced 21.6 million bottles of wine, the majority of which were sparkling.
Despite this upward trajectory, the industry faced challenges in 2024 due to adverse weather conditions, leading to heavy crop losses. Nevertheless, the overall expansion and increasing recognition of English sparkling wine underscore its rising prominence in both domestic and international markets. The U.K.'s wine industry at large now encompasses more than 1,000 vineyards covering 4,209 hectares—a 123% increase over the past decade.
He attributes this recent ascent to a combination of geology, climate and winemaking ambition. Southeast England's chalk soils, similar to those in France's Champagne region, have helped produce wines that are increasingly winning international attention.
'There are a few elements that distinguish prestige cuvée wines from other English sparkling options,' Jackson explains. 'This includes the highest quality fruit, the skill and ambition of the pioneering British producers themselves, who have realized England's potential and craft wines of prestige cuvée quality, as well as an extended ageing process, meaning the wines have extra time to develop depth, texture and creaminess.'
These selections are more than symbolic. The wines are served in the challenging environment of a pressurized cabin, where air dryness and reduced pressure can diminish aroma and alter perception. Jackson and his team accounted for these variables when curating the list.
'At altitude, cabin dryness reduces flavor perception while the reduced cabin pressure can make bubbles in sparkling wine larger,' he says. 'We therefore look for wine that has great depth of flavor and fine bubbles at ground level, so we know that it will taste great at altitude too.'
Passengers' views are also part of the equation. British Airways uses surveys, direct feedback and focus groups to monitor and adjust its onboard selections. 'Feedback confirmed the popularity of English sparkling wine when we first introduced the program over two years ago in Club World,' he says.
The airline's latest offering includes a rotating list of English sparkling wines that change every three months. The current slate includes rosés, timed to match seasonal menus and anticipated demand.
The selection process is blind, with quality as the guiding criterion. 'All our wine selections undergo blind taste testing, where the quality of wines from these producers stood out in the tasting,' Jackson says. 'This means our customers will now be able to enjoy original sparkling variations from pioneering English wine houses at 35,000 feet.'
This initiative is part of British Airways' broader effort to promote domestic producers and align its onboard offerings with its national identity. 'Showcasing British originality is an integral part of our offering,' Jackson says. 'That's why we are weaving our British Original positioning throughout every step of the customer journey, which also forms an important part of our £7 billion ($9.2 million) investment plan.'
He also draws a historical link to the drink's origins: 'Since it was an Englishman, Christopher Merret, who first wrote the method for creating sparkling wines in 1662, English fizz is a sparkling example of British originality.'
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