Jaunted

Robinson is one of only 15 women in the world to be appointed a Master Sommelier by the prestigious Court of Master Sommeliers, and was the first woman ever chosen as Best Sommelier in the U.S. by the Sommelier Society of America.

She is in charge of discovering wines for Delta’s BusinessElite passengers, and she works in conjunction with Delta’s International BusinessElite Chef, Michelle Bernstein, as well as Delta’s partner airline, Air France, as she puts together a completely new list of vinos every year to compliment Bernstein’s planned menus. This is all after tasting through over 900 selections.

Robinson tells us that she looks for a combination of classic French wines and benchmark California wines that showcase the best of American viticulture. More importantly, she looks for wines that have a story, and which will show especially right out of the bottle—with big fruit notes and bright acidity—so that they’re palatable up in the air, where travelers can lose up to 30% of their sense of taste thanks to the altitude.

She showed us two wines from they Caymus family of wines, a Meiomi Pinot Noir and a Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay, to highlight the kinds of wines she looks for, and related how she thinks Delta’s wine program helps bring a certain mystique and civility back to air travel.

So take a look at the little video interview we conducted with her while she was in town, and learn all about her wine choices, what travelers should look for onboard their next Delta flight, and why it is she actually looks for screw cap wines!