Wine maturing in the sea. It has happened before. But not in the Netherlands. Now 850 bottles of wine have been lifted from the Eastern Scheldt.
Text: Ingrid Larmoyeur | Image: Vinissima
The wines matured for a year at the bottom of the Oosterschelde estuary at a depth of 15 metres. The pallet of wines hung on ropes in the salty, dark water at a constant temperature. As a result, the pallet bobbed with the tide. The swell of the water kept the yeast in the bottles moving and gave the wine more complexity and fullness.
It is a project by two Dutch winemakers: Stan Beurskens (of Wijndomein St. Martinus in southern Limburg) and André Vink (of Zeeland's Wijndomein En Passent) in collaboration with Neeltje Jans Mosselen. Vink came up with the idea a few years ago during a holiday in Biarritz. Winemakers there came up with the idea again following a report that divers had found champagne in a 170-year-old shipwreck that was still drinkable.
Oosterschelde
Last year, Dutch winemakers lowered a pallet containing 876 bottles of sparkling wine into the Oosterschelde on 4 May. That is in the bay in which Neeltje Jans Mosselen also grows the hanging culture mussels. The wine is aptly named Brut de Mer. On Saturday 29 June, the wine was presented. Beurskens and Vink tasted the wine and were satisfied. They have already sunk another batch of 2,000 bottles into the sea, which they plan to let mature there for a year and a half.
Curious to find out more about the Brut de Mer? Follow them on Instagram @wijnvaneigenzeebodem.
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