Aging wine at sea becoming a thing in France
TWO years ago, a winemakers’ association in France dropped 120 bottles of red, white and rosé wine at an undisclosed location in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of an experiment to see if sea bed aging yields better results than traditional cellar aging. Members of “Les vins de Bandol” winemakers association said that they were inspired to stage this sea aging experiment by the discovery of amphorae that had sunk to the bottom of the sea hundreds, even thousands of years ago. But what really intrigued them was the discovery of intact decades-old wine bottles that had been lost at sea during World War 2, the contents of which had an exquisite taste, according to wine experts. In theory, the sea bed, 40 meters underwater, seemed like a great place to age wine, but they needed proof that this unique environment made the wine taste better, so in the summer of 2015, they dropped 120 bottles of their finest wines into the Mediterranean Sea with plans to retrieve them a year later for a taste test.
Faur-Brac claims that the sea bed has all the right conditions for wine preservation. Very little light reaches 40 meters underwater, there is no air, the temperature is relatively cool and, most importantly, constant all year round.
To stage their experiment, the winemakers of “Les vins de Bandol” partnered with France’s National School of Divers, to ensure that their precious cargo was handled properly during the submersion process.
The bottles were submerged in a honeycomb-like container and then placed in a large coffer for long-term preservation. The exact location of the wine has not been disclosed, for fear of curious “pirates” with a taste for fine wine. At the same time, 120 bottles of the exact same wines were placed in a land cellar, to act as a control sample.
According to Philippe FaurBrac, many winemakers are talking about the benefits of underwater aging, and now even spirits makers want to try it with rum and cognacs. However, the chances of getting your hands on a bottle of wine aged on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean are very slim, as these products are not for sale yet.