Wreck-Diving.org

A group of lucky divers found what is believed to be the oldest champagne in the world. The discovery was made from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, near Finland. Divers have salvaged several bottles of champagne, thought to be the oldest drinkable champagne in the world from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. Onboard the shipwreck the divers found bottles made in the late 18th century [Christian Ekstrom, Dive Instructor]: “This box that we just brought up which is the first real box I would say with 12 bottles in it seems okay. Some of the corks are broken but its liquid coming out of the bottles so it seems fine.” The unique discovery was made earlier this year at the site of a shipwreck from the 18th century off Aland, an autonomous part of Finland. One of the divers were lucky enough to taste the champagne, believed to be from the 1780s. [Christian Ekstrom, Dive Instructor]: “The smell from one of the bottles is exactly as the first bottle we brought up now two months ago.” The diving team found the wine on their first dive and did not yet know how many bottles the wreck contained or what other cargo it carried. Because the wreck lies off Aland, an autonomous part of Finland, the local authorities will decide what will be done with the wreck — and the champagne. The current title of the world’s oldest champagne is held by Perrier-Jouet, with two bottles from 1825.