Serving wine in-flight is not as simple as replicating a restaurant experience in the sky. Lower air pressure and dry cabin air dull aroma and flavor, requiring wines that can withstand conditions that often strip nuance.
To address the problem, Delta Air Lines has been reshaping its wine program with an approach that blends sensory testing, global logistics and cabin-specific design.
“We start with more than 1,500 wines,” says Stephanie Laster, Delta’s managing director of onboard culinary experience, at a media event in New York City. The list updates annually, and her team is already at work on the 2026 wine program.
From that initial field, the airline selects roughly 25 wines that meet a series of technical and sensory benchmarks. Wines must not only hold up in flight but also work within aircraft constraints. That includes packaging size, weight and durability—all under conditions that require uniform performance from Sydney to Stockholm.
“We make sure that we can get it and ship it around the world,” Laster says. “We want a consistent product.”
Delta conducts early tastings with a focus on flavor profile and stability. Visual branding, sustainability credentials and regional representation also factor into the final decisions. The airline aims to include a balance of Old World and New World producers, along with labels that travelers are likely to recognize.
Delta’s most recent update to its wine list includes 17 new selections introduced in 2024, with a curated mix of high-profile and lesser-known labels. These include Domaine Bousquet Reserve Organic Malbec from Argentina and Ken Forrester Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc from South Africa.
“We start looking at the credentials—the sustainability, the recognizable—finding that mix of people that are gonna recognize it,” she says.
Serviceability matters just as much as flavor. Selected bottles must fit Delta’s wine caddies on the aisle carts and align with airline galley systems to avoid any excess strain on crew. That includes how easily a bottle pours, how much it weighs and whether it can be handled efficiently during service.
Flight attendants are trained through a four-tier wine education e-learning program developed in partnership with Andrea Robinson, Delta’s longtime sommelier. The modules are designed to build product knowledge, confidence and fluency in wine service. Training includes varietal pronunciation, flavor notes and food pairing suggestions.
“We want everyone to feel confident,” Laster says. “The flight attendants have little cheat sheets for every wine that’s on board with flavor profiles, how to pronounce them and more so that they feel confident serving the wines.”
The wine list is shaped not only by airline logistics but also by trends in passenger preferences. While Laster notes that sauvignon blanc has been seeing an uptick among passenger requests onboard, red wine—across the board, regardless of varietal—is still the strongest performer.
Delta’s expanded champagne program has also been met with strong reception. The Atlanta-based carrier recently announced a new partnership with Champagne Taittinger to serve the premium wine in the airline’s business class cabin. Without providing specific numbers, Laster said that the champagne has been so popular that Delta has already had to order more bottles to meet demand.
This demand reflects a broader trend within air travel. While global wine consumption has declined in recent years, in-flight wine consumption has remained stable or grown. United Airlines reported serving more than 20 million glasses of wine in 2024, about 1.5 times its 2019 total. Air France uncorks an average of eight million bottles annually, with one million of them being champagne alone. These figures suggest that, despite a broader global decline, demand for wine in air travel settings continues to hold.
Even before the Taittinger deal, Delta was already serving more than 900,000 glasses of champagne annually.
“The wine industry has been seeing some decline,” Laster says. “But that said, we still see strong consumption onboard.”
