HONG KONG: Skillfully rocking a glass of wine until the swirl was just right, Clara Yip, who selects in-flight wines for Cathay Pacific Airways, took a short, hard smell, and a gentle sip. After the wine sweetly coated her palate, she spit it out.

"Well, it has a hint of berries and mocha coffee. Intense fruit flavors, good length," said Yip, assistant manager of beverage and catering supplies in Cathay Pacific Airways.

An experienced wine taster, Yip has worked with alcohol like this for 14 years. As part of her job and of her in-flight wine selection, taste-testing fine wine from all over the world is just a pleasant feature of her daily work.

Surprisingly, selecting wines for flights is not the same as on the ground. "Wines, too, can have airsickness," Yip said. Shock on the plane could reduce the quality of wines. The right in-flight wines for passengers are those that are least susceptible, she explained.

On top of that, people's taste can be influenced by the air pressure and the dry air in the aircraft. "Wines with intense fruit flavors are more suitable," she said.

The passengers of Cathay Pacific Airways consumed 1.5 million bottles of wine in 2008. Each kind of wine was carefully selected from a selection of about 100 by Yip and other testers.

The approximately 100 wines are categorized into groups by the grape varieties, year and districts. The wines are served blind to testers, including Yip, so that they are not influenced by the label or bottle shape.

Testing like this is held at least 15 times each year. That means Yip tries at least over 1,500 wines every year.

"France, Italy, Germany, the United States, Spain ..." she can't even name all the wines' countries .

To prevent alcohol-induced impairment of judgment, wine tasters generally spit the wine out after they have assessed its quality. "Except for the best, I would spit the wine out," she said, with a hint of humor.

"I have no idea of my drinking capacity, but I never get drunk working this way," she added.

A job like Yip's enviable posting in the Hong Kong market is not easily obtained. The work requires very acute taste and smell. Yip believes both can be cultivated, if they are not innate.

To qualify for the job, she obtained a professional qualification, certification with the WSET Diploma in Wines and Spirits, after she studied Hotel and Catering in Switzerland.

(HK Edition 12/18/2009 page1)