A bottle of French wine that spent more than a year on the International Space Station as part of a scientific study could fetch up to $ 1 million at an auction being organized by Christie’s, the firm reported. Tuesday.
The Pétrus 2000 is one of 12 bottles sent into space in November 2019 to explore the potential of alien agriculture. He returned 14 months later, subtly altered, according to wine experts who tasted him in France.
Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, said the wine “matured in a unique environment” of near zero gravity aboard the space station.
The trip turned a $ 10,000 wine known for its complexity, silky, ripe tannins and flavors of black cherry, cigar box, and leather into a scientific first, and it’s still a fine bottle of wine, Tiptree said.
“It is a very harmonious wine that has the ability to age magnificently, which is why it was chosen for this experiment,” he said. “It is very encouraging that it was delicious when it returned to Earth.”
Private space company Space Cargo Unlimited put the wine into orbit in November 2019 as part of an effort to make Earth’s plants more resistant to climate change and disease by exposing them to new stressors. The researchers also want to better understand the aging process, fermentation, and bubbles in wine.
Proceeds from the sale will fund future research for Space Cargo Unlimited. Other bottles from the dozen that went into the space remain unopened, but Christie’s said there are no plans to sell them.
