Attendees: 50 Sommeliers

• The conventional cellar-aged exhibits a powerful, masculine profile, whereas the undersea-aged feels more gradual and feminine in its approach.
• Undersea aging appears smoother. It's at its peak.
• Undersea-aged wine unveils a broader aroma and a well-balanced, unified taste.

On Saturday, April 6, 2013, the first comparative tasting experience event was held at Aoyama Diamond Hall, which also served as the unveiling of SUBRINA. The day before, the forecast called for a spring storm, and the news warned us to refrain from going out the next morning, as well. In spite of such a bad situation, we were able to have a large number of people gather. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who came. Thank you very much. At the beginning of the seminar, Mr. N. Msibi, First Secretary of the Political Department, and Mr. Mozepe, Second Secretary of the General Affairs Department, took the place of Dr. Mohau N. Pheko, Ambassador of South Africa. Ms. L.G. Motsepe attended and received the ambassador’s words. In addition, as a special guest, Mr. Willem Wentzel from SUBRINA producer CLOOF also visited Japan, and talked about wine specifications and wineries as a speaker.

At the comparative tasting experience session, Common Sense explained the background of the birth of SUBRINA, and the flow of the joint project with Wine Press International was screened in a short film called "VENUS Project-SUBRINA Birth Story.” After that, we finally had a long-awaited comparative tasting with normal SUBRINA aged in a ground cellar contrasted with submarine-aged SUBRINA. After tasting, it was well received by many professionals who are familiar with wine. We were able to notice the difference in quality between ground aging and seabed aging, and we were able to reaffirm the high quality of Schiller at CLOOF Winery.

Impressions from tasting

• Comparing the drinks, I felt that the wine aged on the seabed had a more subdued acidity, a deeper flavor, and nuances such as nuts, making it more complicated.

In Japan

A dream of aging on the seabed

I have often heard "the maturity of the wine pulled from the sunken ship was interesting." This led to the birth of a project; if that sentiment was true, let's immerse wine on the seabed and let it age. Then, in April, a comparative tasting session was held between wines that had been aged for four months on the seabed and wines that had undergone normal aging for the same four months.

The founder of this project, named Venus, is Eisuke Aoki of Common Sense. Every time he went to Okinawa for his diving hobby, the owner of a diving shop in the Onna village served wine, awamori, and whiskey that had been sunk on the seabed. Mr. Aoki felt that red wine was clearly easier to drink than the sake that was pulled up from the seabed, and he wanted to establish it as a business.

Firstly, finding a place to sink it was a problem, but it was decided, with the cooperation of a local fishery cooperative, to use a space off the coast of Oku Irozaki in Minamiizu and Nakagi in Minamiizu Town, Kamo District. The transparency of the water is said to be among the best in Japan.

Next, we had to select the wine to sink.
" Because of the seabed, water pressure is applied, and there is more vibration than in a cellar in the ground, and temperature changes are expected. The wine has a solid body that can withstand these conditions, and it has a fruity taste, so that it tastes delicious when aged. I decided to choose an elegant wine that was properly extracted. In the end, the Shiraz of the Cloof Winery in South Africa was the best candidate, "said Harumi Tsuji of Wine Press International, a collaborator on this project. After that, there were many problems to overcome. In particular, in order to prevent the cork from being pushed into the bottle by water pressure, we conducted a pressure resistance test in seawater, and established a sealing method that does not allow seawater to penetrate, even at a depth of 100 meters. The wine actually sinks only 16 meters, so it's okay. Since the label peels off in water, the wine name " SUBRINA "was engraved on the bottle with sandblasting.

Thus, on November 16, 2012, 6000 Cloof Winery Reserve Shiraz 2011 were finally submerged in the waters of Minamiizu. The iron fence that contained the wine became a fishing reef where fish gathered within one month, and, in four months, the iron part was so densely covered with seaweed that the iron was no longer visible.
The tasting event offered four-month-old undersea-aged wine, which was withdrawn on March 15 of this year, and cellar-aged wine.The temperature of the water in the sea was 13-to-17° C, but it rises when the Kuroshio Current flowing nearby enters, and it is said that it changes even during the course of a day. On the other hand, the cellar was kept at 15-to-17°C.
This is the first time I've had a wine that has been salvaged from the seabed, but it's quite different from a regular cellar-aged wine," said Willem Wentzel, who came to Japan from Cloof Winery. " The fruit taste was also deeper.

Comparing the drinks, it was felt that the wine aged on the seabed had a more subdued acidity, a deeper flavor, and nuances such as nuts, making it more complicated. Attendees made comments such as , "Normal cellar-aged wines have a vibrant scent like a wild horse, but seabed-aged ones have a mellow taste that slowly passes through your nose, "and "The aroma opens up, the taste is in harmony, and there is a sense of unity. "

From the June 2013 issue of Vinotheque