What Does 170 Year Old Champagne Taste Like?

168 bottles of Champagne were found in a shipwreck, 50 metres beneath the Baltic Sea in July 2010. The Champagne found was from the Houses, Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck, and Juglar, which has since been renamed Jacquesson.

Prof Philippe Jeandet, from the University of Reims in Champagne-Ardenne, France and his colleagues used various types of chemical analysis to compare the content from the bottles from the shipwreck, compared to recently made bottles from Veuve Cliquot.

They found in the shipwrecked bottles that there weren’t many bubbles left, the samples contained less alcohol and the sugar content was surprisingly high.

The cold, dark environment of the Baltic Sea proved to be ideal conditions to store the Champagne and the verdict on the taste: grilled, spicy, smoky and leathery with fruity and floral notes.

Before the discovery of this 170 year old Champagne, the oldest drinkable Champagne in existence was thought to be an 1825 vintage which can still be found in the cellars of Perrier-Jouët.