Chemical messages in 170-year-old champagne bottles from the Baltic Sea: Revealing tastes from the past
- Philippe Jeandeta,1,
- Silke S. Heinzmannb,
- Chloé Roullier-Gallb,c,
- Clara Cilindred,
- Alissa Aronc,
- Marie Alice Devillee,
- Franco Moritzb,
- Thomas Karbowiakc,
- Dominique Demarvillef,
- Cyril Brunf,
- Fabienne Moreauf,
- Bernhard Michalkeb,
- Gérard Liger-Belaird,
- Michael Wittingb,
- Marianna Luciob,
- Damien Steyerg,
- Régis D. Gougeonc, and
- Philippe Schmitt-Kopplinb,h,1
- aLaboratoire de Stress, Défenses et Reproduction des Plantes, Unité de recherche Vignes et Vins de Champagne, Research Unit 4707, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51687 Reims, France;
- bResearch Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany;
- cInstitut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin - Jules Guyot, Université de Bourgogne/AgroSup Dijon, UMR Procédés Alimentaires et Microbiologiques, 21000 Dijon, France;
- dEquipe Effervescence, Champagne et Applications, Groupe de Spectrométrie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique, UMR CNRS 7331, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51687 Reims, France;
- eChampagne Deville, 51380 Verzy, France;
- fChampagne Veuve Clicquot, 51100 Reims, France;
- gTwistaroma, 68021 Colmar, France; and
- hAnalytical Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Muenchen, 85354 Freising, Germany
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Edited by Jerrold Meinwald, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved March 24, 2015 (received for review January 13, 2015)
Significance
The composition of 170-y-old champagne samples found in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea constitutes a remarkable and unprecedented example of long-term combinatorial chemistry, which can occur in such sealed 750-mL microlaboratories. Multiple analytical tools, including metabolomics, metallomics, and sensory analysis, were combined to characterize the molecular diversity of these champagnes having aged in close-to-perfect conditions at the bottom of the sea. The analyzed champagnes retained intrinsic features allowing us to shed light on the winemaking practices in use in the middle of the 19th century. Therefore, this archeochemistry approach enabled us to rewrite a piece of our cultural heritage.
Abstract
Archaeochemistry as the application of the most recent analytical techniques to ancient samples now provides an unprecedented understanding of human culture throughout history. In this paper, we report on a multiplatform analytical investigation of 170-y-old champagne bottles found in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, which provides insight into winemaking practices used at the time. Organic spectroscopy-based nontargeted metabolomics and metallomics give access to the detailed composition of these wines, revealing, for instance, unexpected chemical characteristics in terms of small ion, sugar, and acid contents as well as markers of barrel aging and Maillard reaction products. The distinct aroma composition of these ancient champagne samples, first revealed during tasting sessions, was later confirmed using state-of-the-art aroma analysis techniques. After 170 y of deep sea aging in close-to-perfect conditions, these sleeping champagne bottles awoke to tell us a chapter of the story of winemaking and to reveal their extraordinary archaeometabolome and elemental diversity in the form of chemical signatures related to each individual step of champagne production.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: philippe.jeandet{at}univ-reims.fr or schmitt-kopplin{at}tum.de.
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Author contributions: P.J., R.D.G., and P.S.-K. designed research; S.S.H., C.R.-G., F. Moritz, B.M., M.W., M.L., and P.S.-K. performed research; P.J., S.S.H., C.R.-G., C.C., D.D., C.B., F. Moreau, D.S., R.D.G., and P.S.-K. analyzed data; and P.J., S.S.H., C.R.-G., C.C., A.A., M.A.D., T.K., G.L.-B., M.L., D.S., R.D.G., and P.S.-K. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1500783112/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
