Sunken bubbly treasure sampled in Mariehamn

Sunken bubbly treasure sampled in Mariehamn

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It has a strong bouquet, a golden brown appearance, and a strong, but not acid taste. As a beverage it is quite heavy, and the familiar crisp champagne taste does not hit the taste buds until it has been whirled around in the mouth a bit. Some sediment is left at the bottom of the glass, and the taste stays in the mouth for a long time.
      Helsingin Sanomat was allowed to sample a glass of what is believed to be the world’s oldest champagne, when two of the bottles of the prized beverage, which were salvaged from an old shipwreck off the island of Föglö, were brought out in Mariehamn on Wednesday.
      The bubbly was part of the cargo of an unknown schooner in the Baltic Sea, which sank to a depth of 55 metres, and had to wait for about 200 years at the bottom before being brought to the surface by a team of divers.
     
The tasting was accompanied by some unexpected news about the find.
      “It would seem that the bottles were en route to the West Coast of Finland, to an upper-class table”, says Viveca Löndahl the head of the Museum Board of the Åland Islands. Previously it had been assumed that the vessel had been en route to St. Petersburg.
      The rest of the bottles are to be auctioned off, once experts establish a suitable starting price, says Britt Lundberg, Minister of Culture of the semi-autonomous Åland Province. The price of a single bottle could be around EUR 50,000.
     
A total of 168 fragile glass bottles have been recovered from the sunken ship. Ten of them are to have their corks replaced, and they will be subject to closer study. Five will be kept in a museum, and the fate of the rest is still being considered. Some of the bottles are in poor condition, and will have to be opened and checked for possible leakage of sea water.
      “Perhaps bottles containing salt water can still be sold for the christening of ships, for instance”, Lundberg said.
     
A more mundane beverage was also found among the champagne bottles: beer. A bottle of it is to be sent to the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) to see if the formula of the beverage, believed to be porter, might be ascertained, and replicated.
      “It is possible. The yeast is still active. It is resting, but probably not dead”, says Rainer Julin, an official of the Åland provincial government.
      Both a local brewer and an American brewing company have indicated interest in mass producing a revived version of the beer.
     
Some were surprised that there was so much more champagne on the ship than beer.
      “The seamen of the time were probably more eager to salvage beer from the sinking ship than champagne”, Juslin suggests.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Champagne treasure salvage operation to cost EUR 80,000 (27.8.2010)
  Origin of champagne wreck shrouded in mystery (9.8.2010)
  Champagne bottles salvaged after 200 years on sea bottom (1.9.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat