Halliday Wine Companion 'By the Glass' EP 13: Ben Ranken, Wilimee Wines, Macedon Ranges. 

Today’s topic is of huge interest to me.

Underwater wine. I’m fascinated by it.

It’s a process whereby wine is aged or preserved under water.

And there are some high-profile cases.

Now, back in 2010 it was reported divers found bottles of champagne…some 230 years old…at the bottom of the Baltic. It's reported the champagne found was from house Veuve Cliquot…and interestingly they have since buried 300 bottles and 50 magnums in the Baltic sea in an ageing experiment to commemorate this very discovery.

But they aren’t the only ones doing it. Wineries across the world….from Spain, to France, Italy, Greece and Chile are trying their hand at this new way of thinking.

And today we are looking at a home-grown example here in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

Five years ago Ben Rankin, from Wilimee Wines, submerged 20 dozen bottles of his Pinot Noir in 5000 litre tanks. Now, this year he drained one of those vats for consumption and comparison, to the same vintage aged via traditional cellaring methods.

Want to know what wine we were drinking? 

• 2015 Wilimee Pinot Noir 

• 2015 Wilimee 5 Years Underwater Pinot Noir

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Hardie Grant acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the country on which we work, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and recognises their continuing connection to the land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.