For the first time, sea-aged wines are exported and legal in the United States.
A satisfaction led to the creation of Adriatic Shell/Wine of the Sea.
Marko Dusevic, owner of an oyster farm off the coast of Croatia, got a stopover at a frifinish winemaker. “He brought me some fancy wines, it was late summer and I had a few bottles left,” Dusevic says. “I didn’t need to leave them in my (summer) space, where someone could come in because the space is in the middle of nature. So I put them in oyster bags in the sea and forgot about them.
“A year later, I found the bottles, and they were looking good, and I brought them to my friend,” he says. “My friend tells me ‘These wines are different.’ I said ‘What do you mean?’ He says ‘They’re not like the original wines I have in storage here at the winery.’”
This twist of fate led Dusevic to create Adriatic Shell/Wine of the Sea, a company that exclusively ages fine European wines in the Adriatic Sea. That was ten years ago and now, for the first time, they are exported to the United States. in larger quantities through BZ Consortium, a small wine importing company founded in Waupaca, Wisconsin.
The wines – and their export to the United States – have been slow in coming. Dusevic began experimenting with aging wines at sea a decade ago, experimenting and conducting meticulous studies to determine which varieties age most productively, as well as the most productive strategies and times for aging them at sea. Today, Wine of the Sea ages 15 other types of grapes and ages at sea for up to two years. The wines are aged to an intensity of 75 feet and aged in special cages, and the resulting wine bottles are covered in coral.
“We are not the only company that ages wines at sea, but we are the one with the most experience and knowledge,” he says.
Wines of the Sea is also the first company to be granted FDA authorization to export its wines to the United States, and it took several years to download this authorization. Last year, BZ Consortium imported the first batch of 500 bottles of Wines of the Sea. the Sea, and sold out too soon for the company to even announce them. This year they imported 6,000 bottles and 1,500 have already been sold within a month of their arrival.
Ageing in the sea “tests the wines” with the tension and movement of the water accelerates the ageing process. “This task is to take wine to its full potential,” says Anthony Curko, Wines of the Sea’s logo ambassador in New York. and New Jersey.
“Raising underwater accelerates the ageing process,” says Domagoj Skuliber, Managing Director of Adriatic Shell/Winesof the Sea. “The acidity decreases more quickly and the flavors move more temporarily from number one to secondary and tertiary. Wines aged in the sea appear to be aged 3 to five years longer than wines aged on land.
Curko explains that he first tasted an elderly wine through Wines of the Sea five years ago. “It was a Barolo, and since I was little I expected it to be super acidic,” he says. “That wasn’t the case. It was smooth, circular, and elegant. It’s anything different.
Wines sell for $150 to $200, and Wine of the Sea ages red and white varietals. Not all types of grapes can age in the sea, says Dusevic. “Wines want to have just the right amount of acidity and tannins, but still what we’re looking for is the design and how the acidity and tannins act synergistically,” Dusevic says.
Currently, Wine of the Sea is available in thirteen other states and the company has plans for expansion and growth.