Posted on 04/20/2015 7:38:06 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Biochemist Phillipe Jeandet.... who has analyzed the early 19-century bubbly, says there were surprising amounts of copper and iron in the wine. The copper most likely came from copper sulfate, which vintners used to kill mildew and fungus on growing grape vines, the report said. The nails used to hold the wooden storage barrels together probably account for the liquid’s high iron content, he said.
Even after 170 years lying some 165 feet deep in the ancient sunken cargo vessel, the champagne corks had not deteriorated because, scientists say, there was liquid both inside and out. And, according to Andrew Waterhouse, an expert in wine chemistry at the University of California at Davis, the corks were denser than ordinary wine corks so they could withstand the pressure of carbonation, which helped maintain the quality of the champagne.
Most wine will degrade because the cork degrades to the point where it no longer seals the bottle,” Waterhouse said in the report. “When you get to 50 years or older, it gets riskier and riskier.”
The 170-year-old Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin had a much higher sugar content than today’s champagnes—15 percent compared to only 1 to 3 percent in modern types—making it similar to a contemporary desert wine.
Chemical analysis also showed that instead of using cane sugar to sweeten the champagne, vintners back in the day used high levels of concentrated grape juice. And compared to modern-day champagnes that contain about 13 percent alcohol, the old wine was only 9 percent.
“My colleague put on my hand 100 microliters (.003 ounces) with a micro-syringe and it was fabulous, marvelous,” Jeandet told Discovery News via Skype. “The aroma was tobacco and it remained in my mouth for two or three hours. It was remarkable.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencerecorder.com ...
So...it tasted like kissing Madonna?
Sunken champagne ping...
Or a John Madden game ball.
I went to Le Bec Fin some years ago and shared a bottle of wine that had been pulled from a shipwreck
Around $20k and since I wasn’t paying, I was high drinking something that was older than our country.
I think the ship went down in 1772.
To kewel.
How would the iron from nails of the barrels have gotten into the bottles?
Maybe the nails go all the way through the barrel slats.
I went to Le Bec Fin some years ago and shared a bottle of wine that had been pulled from a shipwreck
Around $20k and since I wasn’t paying, I was high drinking something that was older than our country.
I think the ship went down in 1772.
To kewel.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Was it good?
I had lunch at Le Bec Fin years ago.
Fun time. Tiny plates of utterly delicious food, course after course, that actually filled me up, too.
The wine wasn't pulled from a shipwreck, but for the cost it might as well have been. Food too, for that matter. Something like fifty bucks a grape. Oh well, that's what special occasions are for.
Possibly something like galvanic corrosion; copper and iron and seawater can react.
I saw a bad case of something like that with a copper domestic water system; a bladderless galvanized tank corroded through like crazy at the waterline once the system got a few leaks.
That is pretty amazing actually. Was the wine pretty bitter though?
Did you get to Holt’s for a cigar after ?
Been there but, my friend only smokes weed...
LOL
I learned about Ashton Cigars there. Muh favorite.
No, it was good.
Not $20k good but, who cares...
LOL
We were so bombed, the next day we ordered the biggest limo, so we could lay down while being driven around.
It leeches in through the cork. Read a story one time about a diver drinking salvaged wine. He dropped dead almost at once after drinking it. Others noticed an almond smell from the bottle. Turned out that cyanide leeched in through the cork. Whatever chemicals or elements that are near the bottle in the wreck can come in.
Le Bec Fin or La Brassiere?
Cool story.
Someone doesn’t have a clue about cooperage; barrel making. There are NO nails used in making barrels. The edges of the staves were shaved to a precise angle, by hand and by the practiced eyeball of the cooper, so that they fit together perfectly and formed a circle, with the two ends of the barrel mitered into place as the staves were fitted, and all held together by the hoops.
The wine was poured into the barrel via the bunghole, which was then closed by driving a wooden plug into it. No idea where the iron came from, unless the wine was fermented in iron vessels or something. Or maybe the vineyard soil had high iron content. FWIW.
It was, surprisingly.
Though the photo in the accompanying article clearly shows bottles, which the champagne is presumably in.
Interesting about cooperage however.
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