Aged and Chilled: Divers Find Oldest Known Champagne at Botten of the Baltic
jonathanturley
Divers have found a cache of the oldest known champagne from the 18th century — believed to be Veuve Clicquot champagne from between 1772 and 1785.
Diver Christian Ekstrom described the taste: “It was fantastic… it had a very sweet taste, you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell. And there were very small bubbles.”
It is believed that the ship was probably sailing to St Petersburg. The current oldest champagne is held by Perrier-Jouet, which has two bottles from 1825.
Officials in Aland, Finland will decide what to do with the bottles and the wreck.
In 1772, Philippe Clicquot-Muiron founded the house of Veuve Clicquot. His son, François Clicquot, took over the company but his smartest move was to marry Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin in 1798. Clicquot died in 1805 and left Madame Clicquot (shown right) in charge. She and her company flourished during the Napoleonic Wars and became an international success, including popularity in Imperial Russia.
