Space-aged Wine Bottle Could Get $1 Million
2021-05-10
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1For 14 months, a French wine aged in space.
2Now, it has returned to Earth to be sold.
3A single bottle from a case of space-aged Bordeaux is being put up for sale by the auction house Christie's.
4It may cost up to $1 million.
5The wine is a 2000 vintage Petrus.
6It is considered a world-class red wine made from Merlot grapes in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux.
7The sale was announced Tuesday in London.
8Tim Triptree works for Christie's wine and spirits division.
9He said the bottle adds to a "greater understanding of the maturation of wine."
10The money from the sale will go to the European rocket company, Space Cargo Unlimited.
11The company has experimented with viticulture and microgravity.
12It launched the 12 bottles of Petrus 2000 in November 2019, and flew them to the International Space Station.
13The bottles were taken back to Earth in January.
14They spent almost 440 days, and about 300 million kilometers, in orbit.
15The wine returned to Bordeaux, where a bottle was opened for a taste test at the Institute for Wine and Vine Research.
16Top wine experts compared the space-aged wine with Petrus bottles that stayed on Earth.
17Jane Anson is a leading wine critic and a writer for the wine magazine Decanter.
18She and the other two experts thought there was a clear difference between the two.
19The space bottle "seems more evolved than I would expect from a 21-year-old bottle of Petrus 2000," Anson said in Decanter.
20"It is beautiful and nuanced, with fine tannins and a sense energy."
21The wine investment company Vinovest says a bottle of Petrus 2000 usually costs about $5,366.
22One sold at auction for $51,660 in 2018.
23Christie's is selling a bottle of the space-aged wine, along with a bottle of the original Earth-aged Petrus 2000.
24The purchase also includes a set of glasses and a corkscrew made from a meteorite.
25Christie's says the sale price could reach $1 million.
26I'm Jill Robbins.
1For 14 months, a French wine aged in space. Now, it has returned to Earth to be sold. 2A single bottle from a case of space-aged Bordeaux is being put up for sale by the auction house Christie's. It may cost up to $1 million. 3The wine is a 2000 vintage Petrus. It is considered a world-class red wine made from Merlot grapes in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux. The sale was announced Tuesday in London. 4Tim Triptree works for Christie's wine and spirits division. He said the bottle adds to a "greater understanding of the maturation of wine." 5The money from the sale will go to the European rocket company, Space Cargo Unlimited. The company has experimented with viticulture and microgravity. It launched the 12 bottles of Petrus 2000 in November 2019, and flew them to the International Space Station. 6The bottles were taken back to Earth in January. They spent almost 440 days, and about 300 million kilometers, in orbit. 7The wine returned to Bordeaux, where a bottle was opened for a taste test at the Institute for Wine and Vine Research. Top wine experts compared the space-aged wine with Petrus bottles that stayed on Earth. 8Jane Anson is a leading wine critic and a writer for the wine magazine Decanter. She and the other two experts thought there was a clear difference between the two. 9The space bottle "seems more evolved than I would expect from a 21-year-old bottle of Petrus 2000," Anson said in Decanter. 10"It is beautiful and nuanced, with fine tannins and a sense energy." 11The wine investment company Vinovest says a bottle of Petrus 2000 usually costs about $5,366. One sold at auction for $51,660 in 2018. 12Christie's is selling a bottle of the space-aged wine, along with a bottle of the original Earth-aged Petrus 2000. The purchase also includes a set of glasses and a corkscrew made from a meteorite. 13Christie's says the sale price could reach $1 million. 14I'm Jill Robbins. 15Steve Gorman reported this story for Reuters. Dan Novak adapted the story for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor. 16______________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18auction-n. a public sale at which things are sold to the people who offer to pay the most 19grape - n. the fruit that is used to make wine 20mature-adj. having reached a final or desired state 21viticulture-n. the study of grape cultivation 22orbit -n. the curved path that something (such as a moon or satellite) follows as it goes around something else (such as a planet) 23evolved-n. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state : to develop by a process of evolution 24nuance-n. a very small difference in color, tone, meaning, etc. 25tannin-n. a reddish acid that comes from plants, is used in making ink and leather, and occurs in various foods and drinks (such as wine) 26corkscrew - n. a tool for opening wine bottles