Underwater wine tasting

Any true wine lover has attended a tasting at some point. But did you know you can also do that on the seabed? Wine & dive!

No, we haven’t looked too deeply into the glass. It’s really true. Tasting wine underwater is a thing.

Apparently, wine matures much faster underwater. A reason for winemakers to store their wine on the seabed. Bodega Submarina de Canarias in Tenerife offers such a storage facility.

Underwater bar

The Spaniards are taking it a step further: they have teamed up with dive centre One Two Dive and are presenting the first underwater wine tasting. From June, you can book a diving tour that includes a look at the wine storage facility, followed by the chance to taste an ‘ocean-matured’ wine at a depth of 18 metres.

Wait what? How?! In a diving bell: a space that is open at the bottom but otherwise completely watertight and enclosed. Basically, an underwater bar; the Krusty Krab has nothing on it.

Expensive joke

Price tag? 700 euros. “You have to understand that you need at least five or six professionals for this dive alone,” explains Mark Vanderhaegen, co-owner of One Two Dive. “Two or three commercial divers to open the underwater winery and fill the bell with air. Plus two recreational diving instructors. And one diving sommelier.”

“But,” he assures us, “the wine tastes fantastic underwater. The flavour remains the same, but the experience is completely different. During the dive, you get a dry mouth from the dry, purified air you breathe. A glass of wine is then very welcome. Moreover, the fact that you can’t do this anywhere else in the world also has a major influence on the taste.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH4MKov9-tY