What is the ‘Aquaoir’ Effect

Winemakers around the world are discovering that the ocean’s depths provide a unique ageing environment that can transform wine in remarkable ways.

The ‘Aquaoir’ Effect

Just as terroir defines land-based wine, aquaoir is being used to define sea-aged wine. So the impact of oceanic conditions—temperature, pressure, lack of light, and motion—on the ageing process.

The sea-aged wine is bottle sealed with double wax capsules and placed in cages and submerged in the ocean (typically 20–50 meters deep) for months to years, creating a unique maturation process. The Adriatic Sea is a popular place to produce sea-aged wines as it provides an environment of consistent darkness, with no light affecting the bottles. A steady cool temperature of roughly 8–17°C, along with high-pressure and a high-humidity environment. The constant, gentle, tidal movement effect of sea currents is believed to affect the wines, allowing for unique maturation and a more complex, smooth, and fresh, mineral-driven flavour profile.

Bottles frequently emerge covered in barnacles, coral, sea shells and marine flora, creating a unique, weathered aesthetic providing a unique look and a compelling, marketable story.

The first person to successfully experiment with submerging wine bottles in the sea for ageing was Piero Lugano of the Bisson winery in Liguria, Italy, who began in the late 1990s and launched his Abissi sparkling wine in 2009.

Gianluca Grilli was among the first to popularise this method in the Adriatic. He chose the seabed of the former Paguro platform as a marine base, where the Agip station was installed off the coast of Ravenna, which exploded in 1965. Over time, it formed a seabed at a depth of 35 meters, creating an artificial reef.

While the ‘cellar’ is free, the process is expensive. It requires specialised, reinforced cages, insurance, and the cost of leasing ships and divers to submerge and retrieve the bottles. As a result, sea-aged wines are often sold at a significant premium.