Shipwrecked Champagne Update

Since we are still within shouting distance of the New Year, I thought I would blog about Champagne. Back when I was taking the U.C. Davis online certification course in viticulture and enology, we learned about a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea that contained what this July 2010 article in The Guardian was calling Champagne found at sea turns out to be world's oldest vintage. The champagne was thought to be from 1780 so the class had a lively discussion about whether the champagne would be any good at all. The divers that found this stash tasted their booty and found it to be "sweet, tobacco and oaky tasting".¹
A follow up article published in The New York Times mentioned that the cargo numbered 172 bottles of Champagne, four were broken, but 168 others were intact.²
On May 30, 2012 the SHIPWRECKED CHAMPAGNE IN HISTORIC TASTING was reported by the Drinks Business. This article clarified that there were 145 bottles retrieved from it's watery storage. All the champagnes were tasted by expert tasters, and of the 145 bottles, 79 were assessed as “drinkable” and re-corked. ³

The branded engravings on the corks revealed that the champagne came from the houses of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin, Heidsieck and Juglar (later known as Jacquesson).⁴
On April 20, 2015, The Los Angeles Times provided an update on the sunken Champagne in an article called 170-year-old shipwrecked champagne much like bubbly today, study finds. Professor Philippe Jeandet and his colleagues at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France published the results of their analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. They compared the chemistry of three samples from the shipwrecked champagne, which is believed to have been produced around 1840 or 1841, with three samples of modern Veuve Clicquot from 1955, 1980 and 2011.⁵ The research team found the Baltic wine had 140 grams of sugar per liter. In contrast, only about six to eight grams per liter are found in champagne today. Put in perspective, a one liter bottle of modern popular cola contains approximately 108 grams of sugar. The bottles also contained ‘unexpectedly high’ levels of iron and copper likely originating from copper sulfate, which was used to protect vines against fungal diseases.⁴
I suppose if you like cola, you would like these 170 year old still drinkable champagnes!
References:
1. The Guardian, Champagne found at sea turns out to be world's oldest vintage, July, 2010.
2. The New York Times, Buried Treasure in Baltic Has Vintage Taste, DEC. 14, 2010.
3. the Drinks Business, SHIPWRECKED CHAMPAGNE IN HISTORIC TASTING.
4. Ancient Origins, Sunken Treasure: Scientists Taste 170-Year-Old Champagne Found in Shipwreck, April 21, 2015.
5. The Los Angeles Times, 170-year-old shipwrecked champagne much like bubbly today, study finds, April 20, 2015.