Champagne bottles found in shipwreck

April 27th, 2011 - 8:02 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

New York, April 27 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Wine collectors will have the chance to own two 200-year-old champagne bottles when they go on auction in Finland in June. The drinks were part of about 150 others which were retrieved from a 19th century shipwreck.

The ship was found in the Baltic Sea. The wines belonged to the government of Aland and wine experts have ruled that the drinks were produced between 1811 and 1831. The estimate was based primarily on the cork that covered the various drinks. Swedish champagne experts initially estimated that each drink is valued at 500,000 Swedish krona which is equivalent to $82,000.

The auction is going to be held on the 3rd of June at the auction house Acker Merrall & Condit.

The wine cache was discovered by diver Christian Erikson. He believes that the wine is probably older than the 200 years placed on the wines. In an interview with Reuters, Erikson said that, “Most likely they’re older than that, because in those days they kept wine stored for 10-12 years in barrels before they shipped it.”

The government of Aland plans to fund maritime archaeological works with the proceeds from the sale of the wines.

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