Aquaoir: shipwrecks show "new" method to age wine beneath the sea

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descent

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Fine wine is usually aged in oak barrels stored on their sides in hillside caverns on dry land.

Napa winemaker Mira is experimenting with undersea wine aging.

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Years ago, archaeologists removed wine bottles from a shipwreck. On a whim, one tasted some of the recovered wine.

... While searching for gold coins and other treasures on the sunken RMS Republic off the coast of Massachusetts, divers found bottles of wine that were on board when it sank in 1909. The quality of the wine found in these and many other “discoveries” suggest the wine was actually enhanced by the underwater elements.

These discoveries inspired three Frenchmen to ask a simple question: Does the sea hold the secret to truly great wines? ...

In 1978 professional diver Bill Kinsey recovered wine described as “incredibly good” from a British sailing ship that sank in 30 feet of water near the mouth of the Savannah Channel in 1840. ...

( home page of the "Aquaoir" movement; blog post with some ongoing experiments )
 
"It's clearly the best," said another taster, speculating that ocean agitation helped speed the aging process and deepen the bourbon's relationship with the oak. "It makes me wonder why all my booze isn't being aged at sea."

That's a neat idea -- oak barrels of whiskey out in the sea air, on the deck of a ship for months. I'll bet it actually does taste different.

I can imagine that some of the sea-aged whiskey might not make it back to port.

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https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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