Grapes on a plane

That’s why you’ll generally see a Côtes du Rhône (which allows a mixture of 21 varietals in a bewildering array of blends) outperforming a Burgundy (generally 100 per cent pinot noir, although rules allow mixing of up to 15 per cent of white grapes, but this is exceedingly rare) at altitude – and why a great New World GSM (grenache-shiraz-mataro) is often the best pick of a wine list at a fraction of the price of something posh and French.

Wine’s “flavours and aromas don’t change at altitude,” St Hallett winemaker Shelley Cox explains, “but the perception of them is dulled. We expect the same flavours and aromas to be evident in the air, but it will not be to the same intensity it is on the ground. Mouthfeel is an interesting factor as this can be quite a different experience when consuming wine in the air. We were very careful to keep tannins silky and smooth and the acid in balance, as these are the elements which can become pronounced at altitude. ” So I was delighted when – during a lounge visit at the invitation of Virgin Australia – The Duo was on tasting at the airline’s Sydney lounge, where it also appears.

With the proviso that I sampled it on a humid Sydney day at sea level – let’s not forget, the point of this wine is to drink well at altitude, where the air is cool, dry and less dense – I was expecting the wine to be a real banger of an Aussie red in the lounge.

The colour in the glass is beautiful, with an indigo-tinged red tying neatly into the purple-on-crimson theming of Virgin Australia’s business product. The wine produces decent arches (the droplets that form from the ring of wine in the glass when the wine is swirled, which are generally a good indicator of structure), but not much of a nose, which really surprised me. It’s not hard to make shiraz produce a whole stack of volatiles, which is exactly what you would want at altitude where our sense of smell works less well.

“We were not going for weight of aroma as much as the lifted floral notes achieved from Eden Valley to match the richer red and purple fruits from the Barossa Valley component. The brightness and lift is intended to shine through even in an environment that can dull your senses,” Cox says.

What nose there is, though, feels relatively tight, without either the big bold berry nose of a hot climate shiraz you might expect in a Barossa bottle or the white pepper and violets of a cooler climate syrah like the Eden Valley offers. (Shiraz and syrah are the same grape, with the name difference signifying the style of wine, usually as the result of terroir, the mix of climate and soil that can dramatically affect the kind of wine grapes produce. ) It seems to me the lack of nose is unlikely to show any better at altitude where air is less dense and the olfactory senses have to work harder. In the mouth it’s relatively soft and sweet, although there is decent tannin structure and lingering acidity that rescues the wine from being a little, dare I say, forgettable.

This is a tight, young wine – younger than anything else St Hallett is currently selling, and a year younger than the other reds on offer in the lounge – that feels like it could have used some aging for a little bit more complexity. I’m concerned that, at altitude, the lack of bold fruit might mean that the tannin structure and acidity that is pleasant on the ground becomes overpowering. It feels like a splash of grenache or mourvèdre/ mataro might do well to round out the wine.

I’ve tasted (and bought!) any number of inexpensive and approachable Australian reds that feel like they would perform better at altitude, with the Vasse Felix Classic Dry Red or Teusner Joshua that Qantas serves in domestic business class and lounges a notable comparator.

Since The Duo isn’t available for purchase, it’s hard to talk about whether Virgin got an astounding deal for a bargain basement red, although several of St Hallett’s entry-level reds can be had for under $12 retail. Overall, while Virgin Australia gets top marks for effort in thinking about this stuff, I can’t honestly say that this wine performed well enough on the ground for me to want to choose it in the air.

The colour in the glass is beautiful.