Does Champagne Really Taste Better at 35,000 Feet?

Bubbles first took flight in 1954, when California’s Western Airlines introduced a local sparkling wine in partnership with the US winemaker Italian Swiss Colony. Their goal was simple: entice passengers away from competing carriers. Seventy years later, champagne and other premium sparkling wines are a fixture of many airlines’ first and business class offerings. But amid all the hype, does champagne actually taste better when enjoyed in the sky?

Airlines and Their Love Affair with Champagne
From Air France—known for its connection to the Champagne region—to Japan Airlines, Emirates, and United Airlines, top carriers strive to offer premier labels that showcase refinement in their cabins. Air France alone serves over a million bottles of champagne each year, while Japan Airlines features Salon 2013 in First Class, priced at around $1,100 per bottle. Emirates pours Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Dom Pérignon, even in some economy cabins (for an extra fee). These choices often come from the Grandes Marques, as few houses can supply enough bottles to meet airline demand.

Altitude and Taste: The Science
Despite the fanfare, flying at 35,000 feet does affect how beverages taste. Research by the Fraunhofer Institute found that dryness in the pressurized cabin makes salt and sugar flavors appear less intense—by 20–30% and 15–20% respectively. Meanwhile, acidity and umami flavors remain largely unaffected. That means, in theory, a crisp sparkling wine should still retain a decent level of zing, although it might still suffer due to the cabin’s dry air reducing our sense of smell. And smell is responsible for about 80% of what we perceive as flavor.

Additionally, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showed how cabin pressure changes the rate at which champagne bubbles burst, causing aromas to dissipate more quickly. Given that aromas play a huge role in how we experience taste, it seems logical that drinking champagne in flight could diminish some of its nuanced notes.

Why Champagne Still “Tastes Better” to Many
If science tells us champagne might taste worse aloft, why do so many travelers insist it’s tastier in the air? One theory is psychological: flying can be an exciting, even luxurious experience, particularly if you’re seated in a premium cabin. Positive emotions and the thrill of travel can lead us to perceive experiences—like sipping high-end bubbly—as more pleasurable. Additionally, many flyers aren’t used to sampling multi-hundred-dollar bottles on the ground, so any “loss” in complexity at altitude often goes unnoticed.

Looking Beyond the Horizon: Champagne in Space?
With private space tourism on the rise, champagne companies are already eyeing the ultimate frontier. Without gravity, pouring a liquid from a standard bottle is nearly impossible, so French designer Octave de Gaulle teamed up with producer Mumm to design a bottle that releases the bubbly as foam, allowing it to be sipped in microgravity. While alcohol remains mostly prohibited on the International Space Station, commercial spaceflight operators like SpaceX, Blue Origin, or Virgin Galactic could eventually make zero-G champagne a reality for well-heeled travelers.

Until then, however, champagne remains firmly in the skies of Earth, tasting just a bit different—yet for many, still delicious—when savored at altitude.

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