World's oldest champagne found in Baltic Sea

Source: ria novosti

A Swedish diver may have found the world's oldest drinkable sparkling wine when he recovered several bottles amid wreckage of a 230-year-old ship in the Baltic Sea, Swedish and Finnish media reported.

Fishermen of Finland's Aland archipelago told Christian Ekstrom of the sunken ship several years ago, but the diver thought the vessel was too small and did not worth the risk of a 55-meter dive. He, however, became interested in the ship later and made a dive earlier this week.

"We could not identify the ship. The reason why I picked up a bottle was because we could establish the period for which bottles of that kind are typical. My friend looked through a list of bottles at home, and we could quickly establish that it was from the 1780s," he told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
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"Last year a bottle of champagne from 1825 was opened, in the presence of prominent guests and the world's top sommeliers. Imagine me standing in a boat and drinking champagne 230 years old," Hufvudstadsbladet, a Swedish-language newspaper published in Finland, quoted the diver as saying.



Read more: http://en.rian.ru/world/20100718/159852063.html

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Moët & Chandon confirmed to the divers that the symbol on the bottle was the one used by Veuve Clicquot.
now it looks like Veuve Clicquot begun producing 1772, and the bottle may not be older than 1789 when the revolution stopped the production.

a wine expert states that researches may give more surprises. it might be a gift from Louis XVI to the russian Czar. Moët seems to have found documents about a ship never arrived to destination. if the dates will be matching then the champagne here might become the oldest ever found.

in the meantime, a meeting with the authorities of Åland islands will be held on monday to decide about whose this treasure is.

source in italian, http://www.corriere.it/esteri/10_luglio_17/champagne-relitto-baltico_9a470234-91ac-11df-8c13-00144f02aabe.shtml

The things you learn reading DU!!!!

It's Belgian, so he should have said "Mo-wett" not "Mo-way".

After 230 years on the bottom of the sea I suspect it will taste like seaweed. Although the internal pressure in the bottles might keep water out for a while 230 years is a long time...

And the Chill of the water, it might just be drinkable. I am sure that someone will try it at some time, particularly if there are more bottles down there.