TASTING NOTES Harbor. The water temperature clocked in at 55F throughout the six months of submersion, with the depth adding two atmospheres of pressure and the highly tidal area adding motion, equivalent to turning the wines. Although Mira Winery no longer produces Aquaoir, Dyke says that during the experiment, “there was almost total unanimity among tasters that the wine was different, but varying opinions on how it was different. Some thought the Aquaoir was more preserved, some thought it had aged more rapidly than the same wine aged on land.” In 2009, Bordeaux’s Château Larrivet Haut-Brion began its own experiment, with a partially submerged single barrel of that year’s vintage among the oyster beds of Cap Ferret along the Atlantic Coast. Two years later, critics praised the seaaged wine in comparison to the barrel aged on land. Also in 2009, Gaia winemaker Yiannis Paraskevopoulos started ageing assyrtiko off the east coast of Santorini, about 15 metres under the Aegean, with 500 bottles that would remain there for four years before resurfacing. His investigation hasn’t been without its trials. “Violent storms destroyed all but a few of the bottles submerged in 2009 and a great number of the 2010s,” he says. “Too much depth had most of the corks of 2011 and 2012 giving way to seawater.” Paraskevopoulos was finally able to witness the effect of his project in September 2023, when the 2019 vintage surfaced and every bottle survived the depth and time underwater. “The inherent flintiness of assyrtiko becomes amplified greatly, to generate an intense fuel-like character, much like that of an aged riesling,” he says. “Upon letting the wine breathe, those aromas begin to dissipate and give way to unmistakable floral and sweet honey aromas, previously unmet in an unoaked Santorini.” The latter characteristics are what Paraskevopoulos says are most interesting, as the aromas are not the product of slow oxidation typically associated with the ageing of wine. Due to the depths of the ocean, oxidation simply doesn’t occur. This lack of oxygen is both a benefit and hurdle of underwater ageing, depending on the style of wine being aged. As Juhlin explains, for sparkling varieties, “the lack of oxygen exchange can make the champagne more reductive and lose a bit of its fruitiness.” Reduction is one of the outstanding qualities that Juhlin has perceived in the ongoing experiment by Veuve Clicquot in the Baltic Sea. The revered champagne house was inspired to begin its own enological study after divers discovered 168 bottles of champagne, including 47 bottles of Veuve Clicquot from the 1840s, in a 19th-century schooner. Seeking to recreate the conditions of the shipwreck, Veuve laid 350 bottles to rest in the Baltic in 2014 – about 40 metres down – and 350 bottles in its chalk cellars in Reims. Two comparative tastings have been held so far, in 2017 and in 2023, which Juhlin says showed clear differences: “The biggest difference is simply that the lower temperature of 39F, compared to 50F in Reims, slows down the development.” Additionally, some critics noted saltier flavours, which Juhlin explains is not from osmosis of seawater – if even a drop of seawater enters a wine, it will be ruined – but the fact that the wines are less developed, and younger wines usually present more pronounced minerality. Though a handful of the current ocean-aged wines are part of broader experimentation, there are also producers of seacellared wine for profit –barnacle encrusted and all. At London’s Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay, a ninecourse tasting menu is paired exclusively with ocean-aged wines. “If the guests close their eyes, taste that wine – they can feel they are sitting by the sea,” says Emanuel Pesqueira, group head of wine. The restaurant also adds a seasonal menu around the holidays featuring six wines aged at various depths off Porto Covo and Marina de Sines, Portugal, for 12, 18 or 24 months, including a sparkling white, a rosé, a white blend, a red blend, a gewürztraminer, and a sweet Moscatel Roxo Licoroso. Given the thousands of years of vinous history, the category of ocean-aged wine has been around for about a millisecond. But as its challenges are met with increasing investment and rewards, it will be fascinating to see who dives in next. “ Yiannis The inherent flintiness of assyrtiko becomes amplified greatly, to generate an intense fuel-like character, much like that of an aged riesling” Paraskevopoulos, Gaia Wines 74 NetJets
PERFECT MATCH A 2014 Vinho Millésime do Atlântico, from Quinta do Brejinho, served with sole Véronique with razor clams at Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay MOLLY SOWER NetJets 75
