Qantas to ditch its wine panel in favour of Neil Perry and his team.

Qantas to ditch its wine panel in favour of Neil Perry and his team. QF want to take a more holistic approach, what a load of rubbish, it is all about cost. The one thing I love was the Qantas wine selection in F and J. While Perry has done a good job with food it is sad to see this change. I guess QF will look at cheaper wines and adding more imported wines. A dark day for the Aussie wine industry. Pannell Cullen and Carson have done a fantastic job.

I wonder how this is going to affect epiqure? Maybe passion pop will rear its ugly head!!

Once you start serving Bickford cordial in lieu of a drink trolley service, you know the wine up front is next for the chop LOL

Australian Airlines serve Australian Wines.

Australian Airlines carry Australians..... Australians drink Australian Wines (esp. Reds)

I strongly doubt we'll see any more imported wines than are already on offer.

If one somellier can adequately choose wines for a restaurant, I don't see why you need a whole panel to choose wines for an airline.

The only real trick is to make sure you choose the wines via tastings in realistic cabin conditions, where your sense of taste is different.

+1 to Hugo's comments above.

I am sure the Neil Perry association costs Qantas plenty of $$. It makes sense to have the Neil Perry Team pair the appropriate wines to meals. If you have dined at any of his restaurants you will know the wine lists are world class. 

I wouldnt expect any less from Neil Perry and Qantas.

Remember - Qantas has won many international awards for its wine - it certainly doesnt want to lose the awards and associated prestige - and sometimes in order to reinvent yourself change is required.

The reason QF won so many awards, and praise from its pax, was because of the panel's work. Qantas will cut costs, they have already reduced the wine selction on certain F routes DFW/SYD for one; only 2 whites and 2 reds, no doubt this will be happen on other routes, maybe it has already happened?

My last trip in F from DFW to SYD the wines were appalling. red and white were available for $30 in uncle Dan's ( bay of fires chardy and clonakilla base range shiraz). They had omitted to load one of the premium alcohol cases so no post prandial cognac and the food was ordinary. The way out was better with RTW but neither a patch on the offerings in F on EK. If Im paying 14k for a ticket I expect better than what I would drink on a weeknight!

In terms of neil and his team, it sems to make sense to pair the wines with the food. However I doubt this is the reason for his association in the beverage dept. More likely cost cutting!!