Space Wine Exposed to Zero Gravity in Over 400 Days Costs $1 Million Dollars, Here's Why

Oenophile's may have tasted an out-of-this-world 'vin de table,' but this specific wine is literally not fermented on Earth. Moreover, the price of the wine is metaphorically as high as the International Space Station, on sale with a whopping $1Million price tag.

The bottle of wine is from outer space, aboard the ISS for more than a year. Christie's, owner of the space wine, said that it is available to any wine connoisseur. However, the price bid can be as high as one million dollars, reports Phys.org.

The Expensive Pétrus 2000 Lands Back to Earth

As the ISS orbits the Earth, the bottle of Pétrus 2000 had been exposed to the zero-gravity environment. It traveled an estimated 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) of vacuum.

The wine was sent to space in late 2019 to be a subject for extraterrestrial agriculture research. Along with 11 other variants, the Pétrus 2000 was returned after more than 400 days to Earth. With the help of wine experts, the experiment recorded a subtle change that altered the taste of wine.

The wine tasting took place in Bordeaux, France, earlier this year. The Wine and Vine Research conducted the taste test of dozens of space wine, along with more than 300 Merlot and Cabernet snippets. Then, side by side with wine tasters, scientists analyzed a batch and compared its taste versus Earth-aged variants.

According to Inside Bordeaux journalist Jane Anson, it was challenging to confirm if the wine changed or not as it was had more smoky and floral aromatics. Anson said that there aren't many wines that can age for a long 60 or longer years, including the Pétrus, but it would eventually taste better as it does when it gets old, reports BBC.

Extraterrestrial Agriculture and Climate Change

The Pétrus 2000 is among the 12 bottles subject to a private research group Mission WISE, managed by Space Cargo Unlimited, to extraterrestrial agriculture experiments. More to the taste and price of wine, the research hopes to understand how agriculture works and develop Earthly plants against climate change.

According to Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg biologist Dr. Michael Lebert, chemical and biological studies will help experts determine to process age vintages artificially.

One of the observations from canes, or vine snippets, that went from space is that it grew faster even with limited sources of light and water, as compared to Earthly canes. With several studies at hand, Space Cargo Unlimited's pioneering of grape-growing and wine-making in space can open new opportunities for innovating agriculture.

Space Wine Available at Christie's Auction

Three of the wine vintages were opened for the event. Eight will be kept or sent back to space for future examination, and only one bottle is available for sale.

The sole bottle of space wine will be sold with the Earth version of Pétrus 2000 for the buyer to compare. Along with the two bottles are glasses, a decanter, and a corkscrew made from a meteorite. The collection is set in a hand-crafted trunk designed with Star Trek and Jules Verne elements.

The vintage is available at Christie's private auction. The proceeds of the space wine will serve as an additional fund to Space Cargo Unlimited.

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