The national airline wants to purchase 2.5 million bottles of Portuguese wine and has put out a call for tenders
“TAP Wine Experience” is the name of TAP’s new initiative to transform the company into the world’s largest channel for speaking about and tasting Portuguese wines. Seeking to expand and diversify its in-flight wine list, TAP has issued a call for tender, open to large and small producers until 11 August, for the acquisition of 2.5 million bottles of wine over the next two years.
Better quality and greater variety. These are key to the new TAP wine list, which will offer its clients reds, whites, rosés, muscatels, Ports and sparkling wines, creating a real in-flight “Wine Experience”. To enhance the experience, crew members will receive training that will let them get to know the wines and to better serve the client. TAP passengers will also be able to enjoy a unique service, both in terms of information and tasting, in all parts of the journey, from the moment they book their ticket to after they disembark the aircraft.
The company is also moving ahead with new forms of communication, so the producers can organise tasting and information sessions for TAP passengers in all 85 destinations the company will fly to by the end of the year. The aim is to allow small, medium and large producers to supply TAP, choosing the dates and routes they consider most important for their particular internationalisation strategy. The call for tenders was issued through ViniPortugal and the many regional wine commissions.
In addition to providing an in-flight service, the “TAP Wine Experience” seeks to create more wide-ranging channels of communication for spreading the word about Portuguese wines: there is even an unprecedented Wine Tour planned. In what will be a unique oenophile experience, TAP will invite opinion makers, wine specialists and journalists from a number of countries to get to know our regions and our producers. Our guests will fly to each wine region and when there will taste the best there is on offer. The company will also organise international events to attract new clients, focusing on the Brazilian and North American markets.
The “Wine Experience” will join up with the “Taste the Stars” project that launched in April, which invited five Portuguese Michelin-starred chefs to join the company’s gastronomic consultant, Vítor Sobral, to create a new experience of in-flight flavours. Henrique Sá Pessoa, José Avillez, Miguel Laffan, Rui Paula and Rui Silvestre are creating exclusive dishes for our inflight service from September, with TAP committed to offering its customers an excellent service and promoting Portuguese cuisine across the world. As TAP’s CEO, Fernando Pinto, said at the launch of “Taste the Stars”, Like all Portuguese, TAP has an enormous passion for Portugal. Not only do we bring the world to Portugal but, with us, this passion knows no borders, and we also take Portugal to the world.”
Every year TAP carries around 12 million passengers – a figure that is growing. In 2016 the company served 14 million in-flight meals, close to 2 million litres of bottled water, 1.7 million litres of fruit juices and soft drinks, almost 37,000 kilos of coffee, 175,000 litres of beer and 1.2 million bottles of Portuguese wine, making it the biggest showcase and shop window for sampling Portuguese cuisine and produce.
2017-07-28
