The extremely rare bottle of Pétrus 2000 ‘space wine’ is packaged in a bespoke trunk made by Parisian Maison d Arts Les Ateliers Victor, and comes with a bottle of terrestrial Pétrus 2000, luxe decanter and wine glasses, as well as a corkscrew crafted from a meteorite.
“This bottle of Pétrus 2000 marks a momentous step in the pursuit of developing and gaining a greater understanding of the maturation of wine,” said Tim Triptree, the international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, in a statement. Proceeds from the auction will be used to fund future space missions to “help invent the agriculture and food we need for tomorrow on Earth, explained Nicolas Gaume, the co-founder and chief executive of Space Cargo Unlimited.
Back in November 2019,
Space Cargo Unlimited sent 12 bottles of wine to the International Space Station for 14 months. Returning to Earth January 2021, the wine that traveled 186 million miles in zero gravity reportedly took on more floral and smokey notes. With only one bottle set to be auctioned, three bottles were opened for tasting and the remaining eight will be stored for future research.
The bottle being sold in a private auction is a bottle of
Pétrus 2000. Set to sell for $1 million USD, the bottle of French wine made from merlot grapes in the Bordeaux region was sent to space as part of a privately funded research study on food and agriculture.
The rare example of Pétrus 2000 was sent up to the space station 250 miles above our planet by Space Cargo Unlimited (SCU) and pre-sale estimates indicate that it could haul in an estimated $1 million via Christie’s Private Sales, with the proceeds going to fund future space missions.
Credit: Christie s Auction House Ltd.
“This bottle of Pétrus 2000 marks a momentous step in the pursuit of developing and gaining a greater understanding of the maturation of wine,” Tim Triptree, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, noted in a statement this week. Christie’s is delighted to bring this first of its kind bottle to the market and to support Space Cargo Unlimited to continue their research into the future of agricultural practices.”
Retail Therapy: The million-dollar wine that s out of this world
Christie s is auctioning off a bottle of wine that spent 14 months aging aboard the International Space Station. Published May 7, 2021 Courtesy of Christie s
It s been another weird week in retail. A bottle of wine went to space to age, Charmin developed a technology to make video call emergencies less awkward and Gwyneth Paltrow announced Goop would soon be hitting the seas.
This, and more, in this week s retail therapy.
For a wine that s out of this world, it ll cost you
While wine consumption actually decreased 3% in 2020, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine based in Paris, it sure feels like we ve been emptying more bottles this past year. But that may be because new wines and products keep entering the market.