Finer, fizzier ... and may contain a hint of oyster

Gordon Ramsay’s head of wine, Emanuel Pesqueira, likes to live life in the fast lane — he’s a marathon runner and skydiver in his spare time. He is also a certified dive master, which means he’s among the scuba-diving elite; something that has proven handy when creating the world’s first wine pairing menu devoted to wines aged in the Atlantic ocean.

That menu of six submarine Portuguese wines is served exclusively at 1890, Ramsay’s Michelin-starred restaurant at London’s Savoy Hotel (£275). It’s poured at the table from bottles peppered with tiny crustaceans, coral fronds and barnacles. “We initially did it for a bit of fun,” says Pesqueira, who lays each bottle down himself, “but it has proved so popular, we are now blending our own wines for ageing underwater.” The first run — which included a sparkling white blend, a Touriga Nacional and a delicious rosy Moscatel — were all from Quinta Brejinho. But in the future there are plans to work with producers as far afield as California. 

The wine is rocked like a baby — it gives the sparkling wine bubbles that are super-refined and very elegant

The wines are initially matured in a traditional cellar then aged for a further 12 to 24 months in the waters around Sines, a coastal town two hours south of Lisbon, in metal cages that are anchored at depths ranging from 10m to 50m. “There is no direct light down there and there’s constant movement from the sea, so the wine is rocked like a baby — it gives the sparkling wine bubbles that are super-refined and very elegant,” says Pesqueira. “As you go deeper, the pressure on the outside of the bottle increases, which we believe may result in more slow and steady maturation.”

Ageing underwater is a niche, but growing, trend among winemakers. The innovative champagne house Drappier has been ageing a selection of its cuvées 30m to 40m down in the English Channel for the past few years. “It’s almost completely dark with a temperature of 11-13ºC, very similar to our cellars,” says Michel Drappier. “What’s different is the pressure, which is around four times what it is at sea level. After two years the level of dissolved CO₂ in the underwater champagne is around 10 per cent higher. We are only at the beginning of this experiment but I already find it fresher and more integrated.” I blind-tasted an early iteration of its Brut Nature aged on land and at sea, and the latter was noticeably more sherbetty and bright, with a finer texture. If you want to see for yourself you can buy the pair in a special limited-edition set called Drappier Brut Nature Immersion (€248, enviedechamp.com).

Drappier sea-aged Brut Nature champagne, €248 (part of set), enviedechamp.com

Leclerc Briant Abyss Rosé champagne, €330, enviedechamp.com

The most famous example of an underwater-aged wine is Leclerc Briant’s Abyss — a biodynamic Brut Nature champagne that spends 10 to 12 months ageing at a depth of 60m off the coast of Brittany. For Hervé Jestin, Leclerc Briant’s chef de cave, it represents a natural “continuation of our biodynamic approach — to let the wine spend one year in a living universe”. The bottles are submerged by deep-sea ageing experts Amphoris at the point where the English Channel and the Atlantic converge, producing a tempestuous body of water that imbues the wine, says Jestin, with “a higher level of energy”.

This may sound a bit woo-woo — but there is definitely a dynamism to the recently released Abyss 2018. It is penetrating yet fresh, with notes of lemon and apple, and hints of briny oyster shell — the one I tasted even had a tiny ossified crab still clinging to the outside (£160, bbr.com).

There are a few still wines aged underwater (aside from those on the 1890 list), such as Attis Mar Albariño from Attis Bodega in Rias Baixas, Spain (£99.95, finewinedirect.co.uk). Tuscany’s Podere San Cristoforo makes a Petit Verdot that is aged on the seabed in amphorae (€240, poderesancristoforo.it). But the impact of ageing at depth is, for obvious reasons, perhaps more readily observed in sparkling wines. The English producer Exton Park in Hampshire recently released a limited-edition coffret containing two bottles of its Exton Park Blanc de Blancs 2014 — one aged on dry land and the other aged 60m down in the English Channel. I blind-tasted the two and found the sea-aged cuvée more immediate and expressive (Exton Park 60 Above & 60 Below, £225). The next sea-aged release will be a 2014 Blanc de Noirs in 2025; Exton Park also has some of its very nice Pinot Meunier Rosé submerged. So, next time you cross the Channel, keep an eye out for vinous treasure. 

@alicelascelles