Nor would I turn my nose skyward if offered une coupe of VC...especially this 200 year old VC recently recovered from a shipwreck in the Aland Islands:
What do we know about the champagne in the wreck?
In total, 145 bottles of champagne were salvaged from the shipwreck. Some of the bottles originate from the well-known champagne house Veuve Clicquot. Some bottles are Heidsieck, today made by the house Vranken-Pommery Monopole. Other champagne was produced from the now closed champagne house of Juglar – today the producer Jacquesson produces champagne on the old Juglar lands. According to experts the champagne is from the first half of the 1800s. Various experts and historians are currently doing research to narrow down the exact years when the champagne was made.
The champagne from the wreck is of a sensationally good quality. One of the first to taste it was local sommelier Ella Grüssner Cromwell-Morgan. To the local newspaper, Ålandstidningen, she said that the champagne had a bouquet of "very ripe fruit, tones of golden raisins and a clear aroma of tobacco". She continued: "And, despite the fact that it was so amazingly old, there was a freshness to the wine. It wasn't debilitated in any way, rather it had a clear acidity which reinforced the sweetness. Finally, a very clear taste of having been stored in oak casks."
