What’s the deal with deep-sea wine ageing?

Some wineries overseas are making a big thing out of maturing their wines under the sea. Does it really make a difference?

—K.H., Clovelly, NSW

If the wine is in bottles and sealed with an efficient cork or screw-cap, I doubt the wine turns out any differently than if you’d stored it in your wine cabinet or under your bed.

The depth of the water would be important, though. The deeper you dive, the colder it gets. But if the temperature is similar to that of an air-conditioned cellar or cabinet, there’d be no difference at all.

Frankly, it’s a gimmick – another in a long line of zany ideas designed to make one winery’s product seem more appealing than its competitors’.

Like the latest design in shaving razors or the multicoloured soft and hard plastic bristles in your toothbrush, it’s another form of window dressing. Immersing crates of bottles of assyrtiko (a Greek white grape) in the beautiful, turquoise waters off its native Santorini sounds special, but it isn’t really.

Gemtree, a biodynamic McLaren Vale winery in South Australia, has produced a shiraz that’s matured in a barrel buried in the (biodynamic) soil of its vineyard. The wine is rare and expensive, but does it really taste better – or even different? Probably not. It might have an extra nuance of earthiness, though.

“Immersing crates of bottles of assyrtiko in the beautiful, turquoise waters off its native Santorini sounds special, but it isn’t really.”

A Cinque Terre winemaker recently dunked freshly harvested grapes in the Mediterranean for 50 hours before fermenting the juice. He reckoned the sweet-salty taste was something special. Well, maybe it was.

Nic Peterkin, from L.A.S. Vino in Western Australia’s Margaret River, recently did something similar with some chenin blanc grapes. The wine I tasted was certainly salty. Nice for the first sip or two, but far too salty to down a glass of it. You’d probably get a similar result scattering some freshly ground rock salt on the grapes.

Peterkin’s a great experimenter, but at least he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s also fermented his rosé using yeasts from the flowers of local plants. To him, it’s all good fun, and if he discovers something new, that’s a bonus.

Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au