A total of 168 bottles of Champagne were found 50m below the Baltic Sea in 2010 off the coast of the Aland archipelago in Finland. Produced by Champagne Houses including Heidsieck & Co, Ponsardin, Veuve Clicquot and Champagne Juglar, which later merged with Champagne Jacquesson, the shipwrecked bottles were estimated to be around 170 years old.
Taking three Veuve Clicquot bottles, a team of scientists led by Prof Philippe Jeandet from the University of Reims in Champagne-Ardenne, have carried out a chemical analysis of the liquid, discovering very high levels of sugar and traces of arsenic. While much of the CO2 had dissipated, much of the wine’s chemical features were preserved thanks to the “close to perfect” ageing conditions of the cold and dark seabed. Such conditions had allowed the Champagne’s “intrinsic features” to be preserved, allowing the team to shed light on the winemaking practices of the 19th century.
Publishing their findings in the journal PNAS, the team noted that the “composition of 170-year-old Champagne samples found in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea constitutes a remarkable and unprecedented example of long-term combinatorial chemistry, which can occur in such sealed 750-ml microlaboratories.”
Engravings on corks helped identify the bottles
Speaking to the BBC, Jeandet explained how he was only able to taste 0.1ml of the wine as part of his analysis. He said it was “impossible to smell” because of the tiny quantity, but that the taste remained for “two of three hours”, recounting flavours of tobacco and leather.
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