Space wine tasted: an unearthly Petrus
Château Petrus wines that were blasted into orbit for a 14-month stay on the International Space Station have been tasted alongside bottles that remained on earth as part of a novel research project.
Twelve bottles of Petrus, Pomerol 2000 returned safely from their adventure via a SpaceX Dragon cargo craft in January, before being flown to Bordeaux. Rather than offering liquid refreshment to astronauts, the wines’ voyage was part of a research project led by start-up Space Cargo Unlimited and also involving the University of Bordeaux’s wine institute, the ISVV.
Does Petrus from space taste different from control samples left behind on earth? An initial ISVVhosted event saw 12 tasters get 30ml samples of the space and earth wines.
‘The earth wine was exactly how you would expect it to taste,’ said Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent, Jane Anson, who attended. She said the ‘space wine’ sample was perhaps two to three years more evolved. ‘There were more floral aromatics, the tannins were a bit softer and more evolved,’ she said following the tasting, which included a sensory technique known as a triangular test.
Yet Anson clarified the Petrus from space ‘wasn’t a worse wine, it was [still] delicious’. She added: ‘I just tasted one bottle [from the space station], so I can’t guarantee there isn’t bottle variation.’
Professor Philippe Darriet, of the ISVV’s oenology research unit, said the tasting panel did note some differences in the colour of the wines. Anson said the space sample showed ‘some bricking’ [in colour].
Darriet added: ‘Unanimously, the two wines were considered to be great wines, which means that despite the 14-month stay on the ISS, the “space wine” was very well evaluated sensorially.’ He said the panel identified some differences in smell and taste, but that these varied according to each taster’s ‘sensitivity’. Samples of the wines were due to undergo chemical analysis in addition to tastings, to allow researchers to explore variations in their make-up. Darriet said the team hoped to publish findings in an international scientific journal.
Space Cargo Unlimited was keen to highlight that it did not involve Château Petrus in its choice of which wine to send into orbit. It did not reveal the wine’s identity publicly until after the ISVV tasting. The company said it chose the Pomerol château’s 2000 vintage based on ‘oenological criteria’, including the need for a structured wine dominated by one grape variety – Merlot in this case.
A single bottle of Petrus 2000 currently costs about £4,671 (US$6,523) before taxes, according to Wine
Searcher’s global average retail price at the time of writing.
Alongside wine, 320 vine canes – 160 each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot – also enjoyed a 14-month stay in space as part of the project. ‘We’ll do a whole genome sequencing of the plants, to provide a clear view of all the DNA changes that could have happened during the stay on the ISS,’ Space Cargo Unlimited’s co-founder and CEO Nicolas Gaume told Decanter.com in January.
He described the absence of gravity, or microgravity, as the ‘ultimate stress’ – researchers on the project were interested in how the plants may have adapted to new conditions. The experiments are part of the company’s ‘Mission Wise’ programme, which seeks to contribute to understanding of sustainable agriculture. It’s not the first time wine has flown in space, however. Château Lynch-Bages saw its 1975 vintage launched into orbit on NASA’s Discovery shuttle in 1985.