SUBSEA WINEMAKING,
a unique patended method
THE IDEA
“In 2001, working for Chandon in Argentina, I came to realise that the physical conditions required for the second fermentation of sparkling wine in tanks were all naturally present in the marine environment.”
OCEANIC WINEMAKING
In 2007, Emmanuel Poirmeur filed a patent for subsea wine vinification. This new technique involves using the sea to deliver all the physical conditions needed for winemaking: pressure, darkness, constant temperature and - most important of all – motion generated by tides.
Since 2008, EGIATEGIA has carried out fermentations in tanks immersed 15 metres deep in the Bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. This stage corresponds to the second alcoholic fermentation, also known as sparkling method or “tirage” or “prise de mousse” in sparkling winemaking processes. This stage supports the often neglected or little known yet essential role of yeasts in the winemaking process.
Yeasts play an essential role in winemaking. During fermentation, their metabolism turns sugar into alcohol, but also generates many secondary flavours. Once alcoholic fermentation has occurred, the autolysis of these same yeasts, in the form of increasingly finer lees, releases more aromatic components.
The marine environment, with its extraordinary physical conditions, modifies both the metabolism of yeasts and their autolysis, thus revealing new aromatic profiles that would not have been created on land.
The originality of our concept also lies in the fact that in subsea winemaking, the fundamental steps of vinification occur in tanks rather than bottles. The shape of our tanks is designed and patented for this specific use, ensuring a safe balance of pressures between outside (the ocean) and inside (the wine).
This innovative and extraordinary winemaking method brings out flavours that would not appear spontaneously in other conditions.
EGIATEGIA: SURPRISING NOTES BROUGHT OUT BY THE SUBSEA ENVIRONMENT
Our wine is made from wines of different grape varieties that were selected for their aromatic flavours and already specifically vinified once, in order to prepare for immersion.
Just like the great effervescent wines, grape selection, pressing and first fermentation, are three critical preparatory steps for the rest of vinification. Not all wines benefit from barrel ageing, and the same applies to subsea immersion.
