Today we head out from the comfort of our couch to the Southern part of Croatia to the Penisular of Pelješac, diving down to the seabeds of Adriatic sea in search of the underwater winery.
We’ve all heard of the boozy treasure salvaged from shipwrecks, from the 170 years old Champagne to the 200 years old Baltic shipwreck that holds the well-aged wine perfectly preserved by the dark and cold environment of the Baltic seabed. The oldest wine ever discovered in shipwreck date as far back as the late 17th century. We can say that these intriguing discoveries, combining with passion for scuba diving and wine-producing had inspired founders of Edivo Vina Winery. Through years of experimenting, they finally succeeded in perfecting their craft, creating the world's first line of Underwater Winery - Navis Mysterium (The Sea Mystery).
The wine uses Plavac Mali grapes from Janjina that are bottled and stored on land for three months. Next, the bottles are placed in clay Amphora and sealed with two-layer wax at the bottle opening to prevent seawater from penetrating in and cork popping out due to the pressure of the sea.
For 700 days, the Amphora is placed upside down and left untouched inside the cage at the depth of 18-25 meters(75feet). They are visited by the divers of Edivo every 15 days who monitor quality control and observe how the shells, barnacles, and other sea life are growing around the Amphora which gives a unique buried sea treasure appearance.
The key important factor that uniquely differentia this underwater wine is the silence and tranquility of the Ocean. Edivo believes that sound vibration leave marks on living organism and wine being produced using fermentation process has a bottleful of them. Compare to the bottles on their land, the one aged in the sea is richer and has a far different note.
Out in the sea, not far from the cages, a limited number of sealed bottles and amphorae lies on the 30 years old sunken fishing boat waiting patiently for visitors who will set out on a quest in search of them, the sea treasure of Croatia.
Words by Buranee Soh
