“Basement” under the water

“The sommelier will have your wine in just one moment, sir. He's just putting on his wetsuit.” That could be the new trend in Chile, where Viña Casanueva, in the Itata Valley, has introduced wines that have been aged in the ocean. At least five seaside restaurants in different cities are already storing their own stocks of the Muscat-Chardonnay and Cabernet offshore and are offering to dive for the wines as they're ordered. The idea began when Patricio Casanueva, general manager of the winery, was searching the seabed for a lost anchor and was struck with a vision of a cavern filled with wine bottles and other treasures. While vintage Champagne and other wines have been recovered from shipwrecks in relatively good condition, putting wines in the deep intentionally for aging seems to be a new concept. Nevertheless, Casanueva is convinced that aqua-cellaring works wonders and claims that the corks sealing the bottles prevent seawater from leaking in (though the winery is also testing synthetic stoppers).