Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Napa Wine Aged in the Ocean Yields Surprising Results
SF Weekly ^ | Thu., May 23 2013 | Anna Roth

Posted on 05/24/2013 11:32:21 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Three months ago, Mira Winery in Napa embarked on a grand experiment: It lowered 48 bottles of its 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon into the ocean outside Charleston, S.C. in a custom-built cage to see what aging in the sea would do to the wine's flavor. On Tuesday, the bottles were retrieved and tasted. The differences between the wine aged in the ocean and the wine aged in the regular process are "incredible," according to Gutavo Gonzalez, Mira winemaker.

Both were fruit-forward and jammy, as would be expected from a new wine, but the vino in the ocean-aged bottles had loosened up and relaxed much more than he expected after just three months. Possible causes floated by Gonzales and Patrick Emerson, an advanced sommelier who also tasted the wine, include the ocean's relatively stable temperature, lack of light, and the rocking motion of the waves.

"I'm perplexed and amazed at how quickly these wines have sort of taken two different paths. Both are delightful to drink. I can tell they're the same wine, but it's almost like there has been some magic happened in the aquaoir," Emerson said in a press conference yesterday.

Mira plans to sell twelve bottles of the wine to Wine Club Members beginning June 1 on a first-come, first-serve basis. But there will be more: In the fall, the winery plans to continue the experiment by placing eight cases of wine in the water for six months.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food
KEYWORDS: oenology; wine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-49 next last
To: nickcarraway

OK, let me get this right. You lower something in a cage in to the the oean and you leave it there for 3 months and that makes it better?

Hmm...

And we need to make the IRS better?

Hey, I have an idea!


21 posted on 05/24/2013 12:18:01 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (NO MORE IRS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
If they are going to try this in the Atlantic Ocean, Charleston, SC, is the obvious place.

Charleston is where the Ashley River and the Cooper River unite to form the Atlantic Ocean.

Or so I've heard.

22 posted on 05/24/2013 12:20:41 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wurlitzer
I get the impression they are just attempting to impress a limited few snobs who would not dare to dispute the Relaxed taste or if the Fruit was forward or reverse.

I'm reminded of Two Buck Chuck winning the blind taste test at the California State Fair competition in 2007.

July 12, 2007

The connoisseurs may cringe, the snobs may even sob, but the judges have spoken: California's best chardonnay costs less than $3.

Charles Shaw Chardonnay, better known as "Two Buck Chuck," beat hundreds of other wines and was named the top prize in a prestigious tasting competition in California.

"The characteristics that we look for in our gold medal winner … a nice creamy butter, fruity … it was a delight to taste," said 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition judge Michael Williams.

The affordable wine beat out 350 other California chardonnays to win the double gold. Second place went to an $18 bottle, and the most expensive wines at the event, at the price of $55, didn't even medal.

More at ABC Story
23 posted on 05/24/2013 12:21:39 PM PDT by Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: isthisnickcool

If it works for violins, why not wine?


24 posted on 05/24/2013 12:25:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Wurlitzer
I get the impression they are just attempting to impress a limited few snobs who would not dare to dispute the Relaxed taste or if the Fruit was forward or reverse.

Fruit forward generally means you get more of a fruit (grape) taste at the start of the sip, vs a more aged wine where the fruit flavor has dissipated. Relaxed typically describes a wine which requires less decanting time before unpleasant flavors have dissipated from the wine.

As for ocean aging - colder aging has been around for quite a while, and warmer cellars can give a marked difference in flavor. Typically, however, the difference is right after removing the cork - once decanted for an hour or so, it is difficult to tell the difference between a cold cellar and a warm cellar aging.

And yes, I drink two buck Chuck. The Savignon Blanc is particularly good this year.

25 posted on 05/24/2013 12:31:43 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Boogieman

Currents in both oceans move the same direction in each hemisphere. Clockwise in north of the equator counterclockwise in the south. So the currents passing the pacific coast are colder than those passing the Atlantic coast. I imagine that temp difference was part of the difference.


26 posted on 05/24/2013 12:32:34 PM PDT by reed13k (For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I put a six pack of beer in the creek....It tasted like semi-cold beer?


27 posted on 05/24/2013 12:35:42 PM PDT by showme_the_Glory (ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine
Next we’ll be seeing “ocean aged” wine for sale on store shelves.

My first thought. Maybe I'm too cynical but I see this as a marketing ploy for the well-healed who will now say they simply must have the ocean-aged wine and turn up their noses at others who can't afford such a delicacy.

Yeah, okay.

28 posted on 05/24/2013 12:42:02 PM PDT by Obadiah (What is twisted cannot be straightened...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“Both were fruit-forward and jammy”

But I like my wine ass-backward and clammy!


29 posted on 05/24/2013 12:48:49 PM PDT by Jagman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah
My first thought. Maybe I'm too cynical but I see this as a marketing ploy for the well-healed who will now say they simply must have the ocean-aged wine and turn up their noses at others who can't afford such a delicacy.

I'm waiting for not only 'ocean aged', but specific places in the ocean. 'Mediterranean Sea aged', 'Indian Ocean aged', and rather than the far too common 'Atlantic Ocean', it'll be Bahama Ocean Aged, or Cape Cod Ocean Aged... ;)

30 posted on 05/24/2013 12:49:01 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

That is crazy! But.. it totally makes sense! Love it and want to try it!


31 posted on 05/24/2013 12:52:29 PM PDT by laffnatu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LonelyCon

Your point is well taken but as one who believes that words have or sure should have meaning, if they are to convey a thought to another human, concocting meanings to impress the inner circle does nothing to help those of us outside that circle.

And yes, I admit to not understanding the subtleties of Wine, it would be helpful to skip the fru-fru esoteric language and help more people understand assuming the point is to inform rather than impress.


32 posted on 05/24/2013 12:56:18 PM PDT by Wurlitzer (Nothing says "ignorance" like Islam! 969)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Revolting cat!
It’s true, I’ve had an occasion to try it. The wine’s tastes a bit salty, though.

How is that possible? If anything from the ocean environment leached into the bottle I would think the product would be unpalatable.

33 posted on 05/24/2013 1:04:50 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (For me, I plan to die standing as a free man rather than spend one second on my knees as a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts

True, but what a possibility for jokes, good and bad!


34 posted on 05/24/2013 1:06:49 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Wurlitzer
He went ballistic because we were having fish and it was a red wine. Oh the humanity.

Yeah, yeah pal. Just fill it up.


35 posted on 05/24/2013 1:08:18 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (For me, I plan to die standing as a free man rather than spend one second on my knees as a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine
Next we’ll be seeing “ocean aged” wine for sale on store shelves.

And just like 'organic' food...who is to say it is or isn't?
And just like 'organic' food...it'll have a price difference to match.

36 posted on 05/24/2013 1:10:22 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (For me, I plan to die standing as a free man rather than spend one second on my knees as a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Wurlitzer

Light red wine goes fine with fish, the rule is not arbitrary, but it is related how flavors blend. Still, the con-a-sewers lingo is often, as you point out, used to impress and not to inform.


37 posted on 05/24/2013 1:11:43 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Revolting cat!

I’m preparing fish tonight. I think I’ll have a Beringers White Zin with it.


38 posted on 05/24/2013 1:16:14 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Being deceived can be cured.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; Wurlitzer
To paraphrase the great Cajun Chef Justin Wilson....

"I drank red wine when I wants to drank it! The fish is daid. He ain't gonna care whut color the wine is!"

39 posted on 05/24/2013 1:19:11 PM PDT by wbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts

At the farmers market, I usually see organic cheaper than regular at the super market.


40 posted on 05/24/2013 1:19:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-49 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson