Martha is bringing a very special guest to present a most unusual category of wines: Submarine Wine.

Submarine wines are described by Jose Marin of Bodega Submarina del Mediterráneo: “Instead of maturing wine in a barrel in a cellar, do it under the pressure of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Alicante“.

This is his groundbreaking proposal and now offers wineries and wine entrepreneurs  the possibility of submerging their bottles in front of the Cabo de las Huertas in the Alicante capital, to take them out a year later with completely different properties to those obtained with the traditional method.

José Marín, the owner and manager of the winery, left his job as a diver for oil platforms and returned to Alicante to found this particular business. The former diver explains that his maturation method allows the process to be accelerated thanks to a series of physical conditions that until now have not been scientifically defined (now it will be the University of Alicante that studies them), but which are known from the findings of amphorae submerged in wrecks that had preserved the wine: the sea offers a temperature without significant variations, constant humidity and “what I believe is the most important factor, the pressure that occurs in the wine under the sea”.

In 2010 , in the Aland islands 47 bottles of Veuve Cliquot dated 1840 were found. The quality of the champagne was of an incredible high standard, even to the surprise of  the experts of the maison. Now, Cliquot has submerged a selection of its wines in the Baltic sea, in order to create a special submarine collection.

However, it is not only the French producers who have interest in researching further how the depth of the waters, the marine sounds and light has an effect on the flavours and aromas of the wines they produce. “The Submarine Bodega”  together with the University of Alicante, has been working very diligent in their research of submarine wines. And there is quite a production of submarine wines, not only in France and Spain but also in the new world.

Come and join us on Friday , 2nd of September, to discover more about this innovate wine ageing technique. We will compare wines that have been through the process of submarine maturation and have a “deep dive” into the secrets of the effects of the sea on submarine wines.