The world's first congress on wines stored under water was held in Bilbao a few days ago. More than 50 winegrowers, oenologists, winemakers and other experts debated the subject in the Itsas Museum on the history of seafaring, reports the "Decanter". Many experts were concerned that wineries could undermine the seriousness of the topic by dubious PR events to increase sales. The congress was organised by the Crusoe Treasure winery, which started sinking wines for ageing ten years ago. Sommeliers and winemakers suspect that under water, wines mature faster, but develop more complex aromas.
Wineries wishing to store wines at the bottom of the sea need official permission and would have to be able to document very precisely the storage conditions such as temperature, light incidence and other details.
In addition, Crusoe Treasure showed the congress participants how to bring wines back to the surface without damage, which is sometimes a very complex process with many imponderables.
(uka)