A Bottle of Wine That Spent a Year in Space Might Sell for Up to $1 Million

This bottle of wine has been on quite the journey, and now one company is hoping someone will pay big bucks for it. In 2019, 12 bottles of a coveted Bordeaux were sent to the International Space Station, but unfortunately, they weren’t for the astronauts to drink.

Instead, scientists wanted to see how being in space would age the wine and change its characteristics. "The main reason for going to space was, in fact, to see how the aging process is working and how we can influence the aging process,” Dr. Michael Lebert, space biologist, explains. “And the only way to find out the role of certain substances is to go under conditions where you can exclude these workings of these substances, for example, oxygen."

Earlier this year, the SpaceX Dragon Cargo capsule returned to Earth with the wine inside. Experts who tasted the wine upon its return say a year in orbit matured the wine more than bottles of the same wine that didn’t leave the planet. 

According to wine expert Jane Anson, there was a noticeable difference. “The one that had been up into space, the tannins had softened, the side of more floral aromatics came out. They were both beautiful. The one that had remained on Earth was a little younger than the one that had been to space."

Now the startup company that sent the bottles out of this world will auction one of them off. Experts from Christie’s auction house think some wine collectors would be willing to pay upwards of a million dollars for one of these bottles. 

Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie's wine and spirit department, states, “I mean, the lucky buyer of this unique lot will be able to taste the galactic version against the terrestrial version because you get one of each. So that'll be a fascinating thing to do." And whoever wins this wine will not only get unique tasting notes but quite the story. 

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