The wine program

Wine in the sky

At altitude, nasal sensors’ reception of aromas are limited due to the lower air pressure. During flight, the bubbles found in sparkling wines (which contain up to thirty times more aroma than the liquid) tend to stick to the sides of the glass. Fruit flavors are diminished, while bitterness and spiciness are largely unaffected.

VistaJet invited some of the world’s foremost experts from Marchesi Antinori, Rothschild (Lafite), Ca’ del Bosco and Latour on dedicated wine flights to sample, taste and compare wines from all over the world. Our experts noted how taste and smell are affected by the atmosphere in a pressurized cabin by tasting on the ground and in the sky.

Oxford University professor Charles Spence observed that the level of background noise on a commercial flight adversely affects a person’s perception of smell and taste. On a VistaJet aircraft however, the comforts of a home environment are more accurately recreated with cabin noise 35 decibels less than commercial, minimizing the inherent psychological impact. Despite flying at 45,000 feet, VistaJet aircraft have an equivalent air pressure of only 4,500 feet, making many of the sensory effects of air travel far less noticeable.

The learnings from these memorable wine flights, touching down in exclusive vineyards including Clos de Tart and Château Smith Haut Lafitte, are the basis of the VistaJet Wine Program.