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Fancy a glass of 200-year old bubbly?

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Antipodean Andy

Posted: Jul 24 2010, 08:54 AM

I think I've broken the avatar upload!

Group: CCForum Member
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world...o-1225893652279

QUOTE

DIVERS have discovered what is thought to be the oldest drinkable champagne in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea.

They had tasted the one bottle brought up - before they had even got back to shore.

Diving instructor Christian Ekstrom said yesterday that the bottles were believed to be from the 1780s and probably were part of a cargo destined for Russia. The nationality of the sunken ship had yet to be determined.

"We brought up the bottle to be able to establish how old the wreck was," he said. "We didn't know it would be champagne."

The divers were overjoyed when they popped the cork on their boat after hauling the bubbly from a depth of 60m.

"It tasted fantastic. It was a very sweet champagne, with a tobacco taste and oak," Mr Ekstrom said.

The divers discovered the shipwreck on Tuesday near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland. About 30 bottles were believed to be aboard the sunken vessel.

Mr Ekstrom said he was confident of the champagne's age and authenticity, but samples had been sent to laboratories in France for testing.

"We're 98 per cent sure already because of the bottle (we found)," he said.

Swedish wine expert Carl-Jan Granqvist said each bottle could fetch �50,000 ($74,416) if the corks were intact and the sparkling drink was genuine and drinkable. "If this is true, it is totally unique," said Mr Granqvist, one of the experts contacted by Mr Ekstrom's team. "I don't know of any other (drinkable) bottle this old. I've never even heard of it."

Mr Granqvist said he had seen pictures of the bottle, and it had languished in near-perfect storage conditions - in the dark at a constant cold temperature.

"If it's the right atmosphere outside, and inside the bottle the cork is kept dry in the middle; it keeps itself," he said.

According to French champagne house Perrier-Jouet, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, their vintage from 1825 is the oldest recorded champagne in existence.

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