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Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

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Daniel Rogov

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Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Daniel Rogov » Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:56 am

'Tis not April Fools' Day, I promise. See my post at viewtopic.php?f=29&t=33701


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Rahsaan

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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Rahsaan » Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:59 pm

Thanks for this. Sounds interesting and I guess the local Finnish authorities may end up selling the wine to raise money. So we could have some more international auction intrigue.
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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Steve Slatcher » Sat Jul 17, 2010 5:48 pm

To repeat what I have just posted another place: So it's 18th cenury Champagne, with an estimated value of 50,000EUR per bottle, and the divers drank a bottle of it before getting ashore! I am not sure whether to aplaud their panache or condemn them for cultural vanadalism.
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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Rahsaan » Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:41 pm

Steve Slatcher wrote:I am not sure whether to aplaud their panache or condemn them for cultural vanadalism.


I'll go with the former.

But were they wine lovers?
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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Steve Slatcher » Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:53 am

Rahsaan wrote:But were they wine lovers?

Thay may have been, but how many groups of wine-loving divers do we think there are?

Actually, it seems so unlikely that they found an old bottle, decided that the contents were drinkable, and immediately destroyed its value, that a third option (besides panache and cultural vandalism) springs to mind - that they found the empty Champagne bottle somwhere else and made up the story about finding it in the Baltic.
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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Daniel Rogov » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:29 am

Hey guys.....doubtful that we are talking about a single or even a few bottles. It seems this was a shipment destined for Saint Petersberg and most likely to the cellars of the Tzar. My guess is a minimum of 400-500 bottles.

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Dale Williams

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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Dale Williams » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:01 am

Article needs an editor. I'm sure Juhlin got it right, but something was lost in article. There was no such thing as "Veuve Cliquot" in 18th century. Mme. Ponsardin married M. Cliquot in 1798, was widowed in 1805, and produced first vintage "Veuve" Champagne in 1810.

Article is unclear how much wine there is. There's no special reason to believe it was for the Czar (actually Empress Catherine at that point), even if ship was bound for St Peterburg there were hundreds of wealthy noble houses there during Catherine's time.

Not sure how Finnish finders laws are. But a cynical part of me thinks if a group of divers found an ancient stash, decided to drink a bottle, and it was terrible, they might well say it was very drinkable, increasing their share of potential profits. That said, underwater in a cold sea should give wine the best chance of survival
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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Dale Williams » Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:07 am

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Re: Late 18th Century Champagne - Drinking Very Nicely Thank You

by Dale Williams » Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:52 pm

So it is apparently quite drinkable, but it's 19th century and not V-C but Juglar
Another story that needs an editor ("perhaps part of a consignment sent by France's King Louis XVI"). Let's see, Louis had his head chopped off in 1790s, and then a few decades later shipped some wine....

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 46274.html

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