A vineyard in California has been experimenting with aging wine in the ocean rather than in cellars or caves, becoming the first US wine so aged.
Jim Dyke, of Mira Winery in the famous Napa Valley region, was inspired by learning of a haul of preserved champagne which had been recovered from a 19th century shipwreck off Finland. At auction, the champagne fetched thousands of pounds.
The test consisted of 48 bottles of the vineyard’s 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon with their necks sealed with wax, placed in steel cages and placed 60ft below the sea for three months.
Charleston Harbour in South Carolina was selected because the water remains always around the 13ºC level, the temperature wine is usually aged on land.
“We were stunned by the conclusion”, Mr Dyke said. “The character of the wine has remained similar, but the ocean wine tasted older, much more complex, and the tannins were more rounded.” Ocean conditions appeared to have expedited the ageing process.
The next test was for six months with100 bottles of the younger 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon with a 2-3ºC temperature drop in winter.
Laboratory tests showed the land aged and ocean aged wines had nearly identical chemical make-ups, with pH, alcohol and acidity about the same with a slight difference in the suspension of microscopic particle. But blind tastings resulted in 140 people out of 147 thinking they had tasted two different grapes.
"All we can be certain of at this point in our experiment is that the ocean holds a potential gift to wine", according to Mr Dyke.
Mira Winery has bottled its ocean wine under the label Aquaoir, a play on “terroir” which denotes special characteristics of geography, geology and climate.
The price of $500 (£320) is not for the financially shy, but at least it comes with a land-aged bottle so that consumers can compare.
The challenging results have made the winery determined to continue its experiments to find the underwater factors which are impacting on the wine and challenging experts on ageing.
