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Wine from higher spheres

If you think you have already tasted most wine from all corners of our planet, you probably do not know the Chateau Pétrus Pomerol. This wine spent part of its aging process in a very special place, as it spent more than a year aboard the space station ISS. Text: Fleur de Jong
Image: Luxury Launches

Color of a brick

The wine was launched toward space station ISS in November 2019 and spent a total of 438 days and 19 hours in zero gravity. After more than a year, the bottle was returned from space and compared with the drink stored on Earth in the same conditions. 

The bottle of Pétrus Pomerol from space has taken on the color of a brick due to its weightlessness, rather than its original red color. Wine expert Jane Anson was allowed to taste the wine blind and indicated that the floral aromatics came out more in the space wine. Also, according to the expert, the taste is a bit older compared to the wine on Earth. The purpose of the entire experiment, according to NASA, is to better understand the aging process of multi-component liquids in a space environment''. 

Alcohol and glass are normally strictly prohibited on the International Space Station ISS, so which bottle was packed in a special steel cylinder during the trip.

Not just wine to space

In addition to the wine, 320 vines of merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes were sent to the Space Station. Despite limited light and water, the vines surprisingly grew faster than on Earth. The researchers will now determine how this is possible in order to start developing better vines on Earth as a result. 

Private investors helped finance the project. The researchers hope to do this on more space missions involving wine in the future. 

A unique bottle of Chateau Pétrus Pomerol from space costs 5,000 euros.