• First in Alsace!

    Three hundred bottles of crémant were immersed in the Colmar lake.

  • Why ?

    For an experience.

    "We are going to carry out fairly extensive analyzes for ten years," explains Philippe Hugueney, research director at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment.

  • Every two years, 50 bottles should be reassembled.

Notice to amateur divers in the Colmar region.

Don't be too surprised if you come across ... cases of Crémant d'Alsace!

Three hundred bottles of the famous sparkling wine were submerged on Wednesday under the city's nautical base, twenty-five meters deep.

“Everything is sealed and padlocked. The site is protected and supervised, the beach is nearby. A possible thief will be quickly spotted, ”smiles Eric Straumann. It is he, the mayor of Colmar, who is at the origin of this experience. A first in the region, not in the world, notably with champagne dipped in the Baltic Sea.

“I got the idea while drinking a sparkling Sicilian wine before the Christmas holidays last year. It was original! », Continues the elected, who then approached specialists. “I didn't want to sound like a weirdo! The reception was pretty good. Particularly with the best sommelier in the world in 1989, Serge Dubs, still working at the two-starred restaurant “L'Auberge de l'Ill”, in Illhauesern. “I told him 'why not'. I, who am Alsatian and ambassador of our wines, seemed to me to be a good initiative ”, he remembers. “Even though operations of the same type have already been carried out, at altitude too, I find the experience fun and interesting. "

Because the project does not stop with the immersion and tasting in a few years of these 300 copies of the prestige cuvée from the Muré estate, in Rouffach.

“We are going to carry out fairly in-depth analyzes for ten years.

The goal is to have a better knowledge of the wine aging process.

To see the influence of external conditions on its evolution, ”confirms Philippe Hugueney, research director at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae de Colmar).

Fifty bottles reassembled every two years

The scientist will look in particular "on the aromatic molecules, to see how they evolve compared to a traditional cellar aging. At the same time, the doctor in physics Gérard Liger-Belair, professor at the University of Reims, will examine "how the foamability of crémant is affected". And, of course, Serge Dubs will lend his nose and his palate to qualify all this in terms of taste.

"Last summer, I was able to drink Cahors wine which had been placed in the Padirac pit, 103 meters underground, for a year," continues the oenologist.

Its flavor density was more refined and deeper.

We'll see what happens this time!

“Every two years, 50 bottles should be reassembled, always by the firefighters.

They should not be reserved only for experience.

“The goal is not to trade.

We will use it for special occasions, such as the opening of the Wine Fair, ”promises Eric Straumann.

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