A Swedish wine expert estimates that 18th century champagne bottles found by divers in an underwater shipwreck near Sweden could demand around $68,000 per bottle if the corks are intact and the champagne is genuine and drinkable.
About 30 bottles were found aboard a sunken ship at the bottom of the Baltic Sea near the Aland Islands between Sweden and Finland. The nationality of the ship is still to be determined but the diving crew think that the champagne cache was part of cargo destined for Russia. The divers brought up one bottle to establish how old the wreck was and decided to taste what they thought was wine only to discover that the cork popped out, revealing champagne. The divers then took a sip and described the aged wine as very sweet with flavours of tobacco and oak, and that it tasted fantastic.
The diving crew is hoping that this latest find will be the world’s oldest drinkable champagne as up until now the French champagne house Perrier-Jouet claims the title of oldest champagne in existence with their 1825 vintage.
Samples of the newly-discovered champagne have been sent to laboratories in France to confirm the wine’s origin. However, the diving crew said that they are 98 per cent confident that the champagne is Veuve Cliquot and was made between 1772 and 1785.