+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

A bottle of red wine that aged for 14 months on the International Space Station is up for sale and could fetch up to $1 million

May 6, 2021, 21:56 IST
Business Insider
Christie's
  • 12 bottles of wine were sent to the ISS in 2019 to study the effect of space on wine aging.
  • One of those bottles is now up for sale at Christie's and reportedly may fetch $1 million.
Advertisement

Christie's auction house is selling what may be the most out-of-this-world bottle of wine ever to hit the market: A Bordeaux from 2000, aged for 14 months aboard the International Space Station.

Bundled with the space-aged bottle of Pétrus, a high-end red wine, the auction house is selling a "terrestrial" -- or Earth-aged -- bottle so the buyer can compare the two wines. Christie's is also including a space-themed trunk by Parisian Maison d'Arts Les Ateliers Victor complete with Star Trek-inspired details. The buyer can drink the wine using the provided glasses and decanter as well as a corkscrew made from a meteorite, according to the Christie's website.

Christie's is expecting the wine to sell for as much as $1 million, which could be a new record for a bottle, according to reporting from the New York Times,

Proceeds of the sale will go towards funding future space missions, Christie's said in a press release. The wine won't go up for auction and is instead available to be purchased by Christie's private sales arm.

The bottle is part of the first group of wines sent to the ISS and back.

Advertisement

In November of 2019, the company Space Cargo Unlimited ran experiments on wine by sending the Pétrus, along with 11 other bottle, to the ISS for 14 months. The wine came back down to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft early in 2021.

Christie's

Researchers were looking into how conditions in space impact how wine ages. The mission, part of a private research program called Mission WISE (Vitis Vinum in Spatium Experimentia), sought to examine "how plants adapt to the stress of space conditions to develop innovative solutions for the future of food and agriculture on Earth," according to Christie's.

The goal of the project was "to develop new flavors and properties for the food industry," the AP reported. The experiment also marked a shift by NASA, allowing for-profit business opportunities at the ISS and even private spaceflight, a trend which has only accelerated since 2019, according to the AP.

When the wine bottles returned to Earth, each was sealed in a steel cylinder, according to an AP report. Some of the wines went to a taste-test in Bordeaux where sommeliers compared the terrestrial and extra-terrestrial aging processes. The cargo also included vines from Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc grapes.

You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article