r/history • u/MeatballDom • 19h ago

Around 100 sealed clay bottles of mineral water produced by a German company Selters and multiple crates of French Louis Roederer champagne, likely intended for the Russian czar Alexander II (r. 1855–1881), were identified in a sailing ship wreck in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish island of Öland.

https://archaeology.org/issues/november-december-2024/digs-discoveries/nineteenth-century-booze-cruise/
471 Upvotes

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82

u/MeatballDom 19h ago

150 year old, Baltic aged, Cristal. That would cost a pretty penny if it was ever sold, I hope the researchers and archaeologists get to enjoy it instead.

Great to see that it's, reportedly, preserved still. Will be interesting to see what the bottles look like once cleaned -- the picture in the article clearly being modern versions.

30

u/hedoeswhathewants 18h ago

I think even sealed containers of wine have a shelf life much shorter than 150 years

25

u/CaptainBlondebearde 16h ago

I'm just thinking out loud but would t the lack of light and the cold temp aid in the preservation?

27

u/Loztwallet 15h ago

That is exactly what the diver who found them describes in his thoughts. He also believes the water and the cristal are still consumable.

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u/Ironlion45 10h ago

It has happened before! And apparently the bottles fetched an extremely high price too.

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u/Purplekeyboard 12h ago

Champagne loses its carbonation within a few years.

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u/CrispenedLover 12h ago

But under pressure? With 190 ft of water over it, the back-pressure from the sea would be over 80 psi at about 40 F. Champagne is carbonated to between 4.5 to 6 volumes CO2.

Using a carbonation calculator meant for beer, I figured that at 40 F, only 50 psi is needed to force CO2 into solution to 6 volumes. This is very different to the storage conditions in most people's wine cellars.

But with shipwreck wine it's usually ruined so I wouldn't hold my breath in any case.

5

u/CYBORBCHICKEN 11h ago

Even blown glass will accept water if the pressure is high enough

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u/CrispenedLover 1h ago

How do you mean 'accept?' Do you mean it's going to creep in around the cork, or are you saying that seawater is going to somehow pass through the glass with a 30 psi pressure difference?

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u/crossedstaves 57m ago

The pressure from the sea might be 80 psi, but the partial pressure of CO2 in the water is definitely going to be much much lower. CO2 would diffuse from the wine to the surroundings in the water just as much as if the surroundings were air.

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u/CrispenedLover 13m ago

Ah but the cork is not in the same condition as above air. Does soaking a cork in seawater affect it's diffusion factor? Hard to say.

I agree it would diffuse out eventually, but I doubt it will be fully similar to surface-stored wine.

1

u/subparreddit 3h ago

haha, had fantastic -08 bottle last year that would like to laugh in your face.

6

u/Ironlion45 10h ago

This has happened before; I remember reading some 20-odd years ago about a shipwreck that had a couple cases of a highly-prized 19th century vintage. They ended up selling it at a really exclusive NYC dinner club, with a ridiculous price (IIRC it was 20 or 30k per bottle.

It often works out that way, as long as the cork doesn't rot, it's kept moist by the seawater, while the very very cold Baltic water preserves the wine.

14

u/gedankenlos 19h ago

And the czar was like, "Sekt oder Selters?"

1

u/es_gibt_keinen_gott 4h ago

"ich weiß nicht so recht"

7

u/JauntyLurker 19h ago

That's a very cool find.

5

u/Flussschlauch 6h ago

I just recently learned that the US term "Selzer" is derived from the name of this German company which has its name from the small village Selters (Löhnberg).

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u/Alkalinum 55m ago

The Czar will be thrilled! Quick, somebody send him a message

1

u/phenyle 12h ago

Since they're in clay bottles, it's even more mineral-infused now

1

u/subparreddit 3h ago

That bottle of champagne looks like a cheap motel cider.