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Space-travelling bottle of wine could cost US$1 million

Published:Wednesday | May 12, 2021 | 11:56 PMBANG Bizarre

A bottle of wine that has spent a year in space is expected to sell for around US$1 million (£720,000).

Auction house Christie's explained how the bottle of Petrus 2000 spent 14 months ageing on the International Space Station and is now available through private sales.

Tim Tiptree, a wine master who works at Christie's, explained that a regular bottle of the wine will be sold alongside the space-aged bottle so that the buyer is able to compare the two.

A group of wine tasters got to try a batch of the tipple at the University of Bordeaux's wine institute earlier this year and noticed a difference after it had been in space.

Jane Anson, journalist and author at Inside Bordeaux, told the BBC: "It's hard for me to say if it was better or worse. But it was definitely different.

"The aromatics were more floral and more smoky - the things that would happen anyway to Petrus as it gets older."