Underwater Wine

[ticklenow1]

An interesting article. I wonder if some clever Tasmanian sparkling makers might try this....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021 ... bed-ageing

[TiggerK]

Underwater cellaring.... A case of Petrus sent into space to test gravity's effect on aging (the latter total marketing meh BTW IMHO).... What's next??

[cuttlefish]

Wilimee in Macedon Ranges are doing this with some Pinot Noir they've had in a tank of water since 2015.

Releases this year, I think.

[Mahmoud Ali]

So was it a mistake for people to write off the wines that were submerged in the Brisbane floods?

[Polymer]

I think the concern w/ flooding is that all of the junk that gets to the cork..around the cork...on the bottle..in the portion between cork and bottle...maybe what gets in the wine and we couldn't see.

Although with proper cleaning the wines are probably perfectly fine, I think everyone makes that discount vs. risk decision...I think it is basically the same decision process you go through but with normal auctions. Am I getting enough of a discount (whatever that is, if any) for it to be worth the extra risk?

[Mahmoud Ali]

I had meant it in jest Polymer, although I do wonder that if the cork, and therefore the wine, is susceptible to external influence from air and water from flooding then why not salt water and pollution over a longer period of time.

[Polymer]

Oh..I didn't take it as a joke because it is a legit question, as you pointed out.

I know plenty of people that are perfectly fine w/ a wine even after it has been through a flood..and plenty that aren't.

I think one difference though is if you have wine submerged for years in the ocean...if the cork was slightly compromised you'd know...If during the flood the cork was slightly compromised you might not (You probably would but might not). Will it still be safe to drink? Unknown. And while the ocean probably has some pollution, it is probably considered significantly cleaner than flood water. We would easily be ok with swimming in the ocean but how many people would intentionally swim in muddied flood water?

Maybe none of that matters...I don't really know.

For me personally...I'd not buy these wines...but I've been served a wine (unknowingly) that has gone through a flood....wine was fine as far as I could tell...

[Mahmoud Ali]

.... A case of Petrus sent into space to test gravity's effect on aging (the latter total marketing meh BTW IMHO).... What's next??

I thought you were kidding - until I saw the article in Decanter Magazine!

https://www.decanter.com/premium/petrus-2000 ... _NW_weekly

[mychurch]

Prima Donna 2012 Brut from the King Valley spent some time in the sea. Cant find any current info on the producer, so maybe they have closed down. They also had a limited edition sparkler that was aged in a river.

Only 64 bottles went into the sea, which makes it one of the rarest wines I have drunk. My review from 2015 was

“ Probably the rarest commercial wine I have drunk as there are only 64 bottles of this. It's the same basic cuvee that we drank last night over dinner, but it's spent 1 year maturing in the ocean rather than in the cellar. Can't really Taste much of a difference. The texture seems slightly more oily, but flavour wise it's the same. Interesting to try, but I'm not sure it's an experiment worth repeating”