Science & Technology

Scientists sample 170-year-old champagne

By T.K. Randall
April 21, 2015

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Would you drink a glass of champagne that had been sitting underwater for the last 170 years ? This was the task put to researchers in France recently after 168 bottles of the sparkling vintage were retrieved from a wreck off the coast of Finland.

Those of the team who were brave enough to sample the drink described it as super-sweet with aromas of leather, tobacco and smoke. Biochemist Philippe Jeandet described how even the smallest whiff of it had stayed with him for several hours.Normally bottles of wine will never last as long as these did but in this case the 19th century vintage had remained in a well-preserved state thanks to the near-freezing temperatures of the sea floor.

The wooden corks had also remained in one piece due to the presence of liquid on both sides and because they had been designed to withstand the pressure of the bottles' carbonated contents.

"Most wine will degrade because the cork degrades to the point where it no longer seals the bottle," said Prof Andrew Waterhouse. "When you get to 50 years or older, it gets riskier and riskier."

The fact that so many of the bottles survived for so long in fact is nothing short of incredible.

Source: Discovery News

Tags: Champagne, Shipwreck