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 I used to be a fan of the French Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau and used to avidly watch the weekly TV Show The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, in the US. I was very excited when I read about some wine producers experimenting with submerging wine bottles under the sea off the coast in the West of France about 20 years ago, though the experiment had been first known to have been conducted much earlier. I have been since reading off and on, about a few similar experiments in the US, Italy, France and Spain with every producer claiming better results and higher prices-the pace increasing since a few lots discovered on the sea-bed from ship wrecks found with the wine and champagne bottles intact, still drinking well and fetching exorbitant prices in auctions.
Closer to home, I read about a Singapore-based Indian Ravi Viswanathan (who has invested in both Sula and Grover- Zampa in India), buying at an auction in 2010, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne found on the seabed from a sea wreck 170 years ago, along with a stash of 145 bottles. He paid a cool € 30,000 for the Present for his wife. I was equally excited when a saw the bottle in his personal cellar at the Restaurant she runs in Singapore, I could not taste it-and wondered if he ever would either! Such collectibles are for appreciation in value and not for drinking!
 I got closer to myncounter when I visited Gaia Winery in Greece last year and met the owner winemaker Dr. Yiannis Paraskevopoulos in Nemea. He has another winery in Santorini Island where he has been experimenting with ageing Assyrtiko white wine under sea and claims his was one of the 8 wineries in the world to do so.
Yiannis started experimentation in 2009 with 5 bottles stored under the sea- they turned into vinegar. He downed 268 bottles in a crate with no problem the next year and followed in 2011 with no problems either. These wines are highly prized and snapped up for around € 80-100 a bottle by collectors, no doubt helped by a BBC crew filming the project and showing the documentary. I added a visit to the Santorini winery in my bucket list right then.
The closest I came to tasting and comparing the under-water aged wine with that in a regular cellar was when I met Xabier Arruza from Basque to promote his brand Basqvium brand. At a dinner organised by him, I was able to taste Crusoe Treasure Passion, a Tempranillo aged underwater cellar in the Basque Country in Spain. It was a well rounded red, light on the palate with distinct, pleasant minerality and ripe tannins with hints of liquorice and truffles. However, there was no opportunity to taste from a bottle aged totally in a cellar above water for comparison.
Adega Ervideira
 I was finally able to taste and compare a red wine aged under water with the one aged in the regular cellar last month when I visited Alentejo last month. Second day of the trip started with a visit to Adega (bodega/wine estate) Ervideira. I was quite excited about the possibility of tasting Conde d’Ervideira Vinho da Agua, or ‘water wine’ that I was told was the calling card of the owner, Duarte Leal da Costa.
Duarte was waiting for me and my host for the trip, Pedro Verdial of Vinhos do Alentejo in the Tasting Room- cum- wine shop. There were already a few tourists from Brazil and a couple of other Latin countries busy tasting wines. After a brief description of the company founded by his great grandfather in 1880, he said he had taken over the family company in the 1980s as a consensus in the family and started afresh in 1998 (more on the history of Alentejo and other wineries in future editions).
Duarte is somewhat of a rock star; he is an impressive talker and mesmerises you; but he is a very passionate about his wine. He is well known in Alentejo, Portugal and internationally as he exports 40% of his production of 800,000- 1,000,000 to 30 countries (sadly India is not one of them yet) with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand as the main importers. He could increase his exports in a big way but says, ‘we do not sell in the supermarkets though I am approached often by foreign supermarket buyers for big quantities but at very low prices.’ Owning 160hA of vineyards at two different properties, he cultivates 10 local varieties of red and 8 of white wines, excluding Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
White Tempranillo
 I was very keen to taste the Vinho do Agua (‘water wine’) I had so much heard about. These wines are aged under lake water for additional 8 months. But that would have to wait as it was later in the line-up of around 15 wines we would taste. One of the first ones I tasted was an Aragonez Branco ‘Invisivel’ white wine (grape known as Tempranillo in Rioja and many parts of the world including India) made from red grapes. He insisted I taste this unique wine while chilled and later come back to it after tasting all red wines and re-taste when it had warmed up a few notches. The theatrics and the mystery that goes in when Duarte speaks is evident when he says with confidence, ‘I am the only producer in the world making white wine from this red grape’, reminding me of Fratelli Vineyards in India making a Sangiovese Bianco.
Vinho do Agua- Water Wine
 After tasting a few other wines including two Roses, the first, lighter of which was excellent, we reached Conde d’Ervideira Reserva- a blend of Touriga Nacional, Aragonez, Alicante Bouschet ( a popular red wine blend in Alentejo) & a pinch of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is aged for 10 months in French barriques and then kept in the bottles and released after one year of total ageing. This higher-ended label is named after Duarte’s Great grandfather who was a Count (Conde) but costs a very reasonable €7.50 in the wine shop. Incidentally, it costs the same to taste a wide range of wines in the Tasting Room. Duarte stresses the visitors are welcome to taste as many wines as possible and when they buy, they are not even charged for the tasting. The passion of the man is infectious!
In 2014, Duarte started experimenting with underwater ageing by downing 4 cases of 12 bottles each, 30 meters deep in Lake Alqueva, one of the biggest artificial lakes in Europe, which is in Alentejo. All the corks were spoilt during the first year, says Duarte. In the following year, sealing wax from lac was used to properly seal the bottle. He submerged around 30,000 bottles -95 cases of 325 bottles each and brought up with filled balloons. He also tasted the underwater wines aged for 3 months, 6 months and 9 months but came to the conclusion that 8 months was the ideal time to store it under water.
The first batch of 30,000 bottles of the 2014 vintage was released last year and has already been sold out. “In September 2015, we have put around 30.000 bottles, in 95 cases of 325 bottles each. In May 2016, we have brought out the first set of cases to sell in the market.’ To get a hang for the process of taking down the cases, please watch the short videos on You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNys3nmyvaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bI3GdZQzQ&t=88s
 The ‘water wine’ or ‘underwater wine’ is known to age in a storage environment with no possibility of any light or UV rays, the temperature is cool and always the same and the pressure is same but higher than usual. ‘In the water the wine is matured in a way that cannot be done in cellars. There is hardly any temperature variations in the day-night temperature of 17 °C , from winter to summer. There is a total absence of light, the box is under water without any movement”, he says. He does not believe ageing in sea-water is any different or better, however.
Some others might disagree with him though. ‘Mixing wine with sea (“Thalassa” in Greek) water was a very well known practice applied to give therapeutic virtues to wine. The wines resulting from this process were called “Thalassitis Oenos” (sea-originated wine). Without mixing obviously, our wine with seawater, we strongly believe that the proximity of Santorini’s vineyard to the Aegean Sea is one of the most important factors forming the special character of our THALASSITIS. ‘ But when I tell Duarte what Yiannis had told me about the Thalassitis sea-aged wine at the Gaia winery, he simply laughed and said,’ wine does not come in direct contact with the wine inside. Else, it would be all salty!’ The proponents of sea-water insist there is some sort of osmosis between sea-water and the bottle under pressure, resulting in a faint saline influence. Since it is still in experimental stage, everyone agrees there is X-factor involved.
It was interesting that on comparing the prices of Conde d’Ervideira Reserva with Conde d’Ervideira Viho do Agua , they were extremely reasonable. I can’t imagine how the Vinho do Agua could sell only €2 higher for export. An extremely interesting wine with a lot of story at a very resonble price!
At the end of the Tasting we went back to tasting the Tempranillo white wine-it had warmed up to around 18°C. This is where Duarte did not use his theatrics. If he had asked me to taste it blind-folded, I would have unsuspectingly insisted it was a red Tempranillo- warm on the palate, slightly more tannic, it tasted like a red wine. He did suggest that his unique  Aragonez Branco ‘Invisivel’ could be served chilled for starters and taken with even red meats in the main course.
Before leaving the winery, Duarte insists I visit his lab for a minute even though we are behind schedule. He shows me a bottle of sparkling wine and another of white with the wax seals. ‘They are next for the underwater ageing soon,’ he tells me proudly. With the red, white and sparkling all undergoing underwater treatment, it might give some more understanding about the X-factor in ageing wine under water.
Ervideira has a full range of wines, all reasonable at various points, even for the Indian market. But these two unique wines separate them from most of the other wines from Alentejo. I believe some Indian importers showed keen interest in these wines at Vinexpo. The importers would do well to have these unique wines in the portfolio. The discerning hotels ought to jump at the concept and serving to their guests. Hopefully, they would also be able to taste these unique wines, as I did.
Subhash Arora |