Armenia’s Maran Winery reports that it is aging its red Halde wines under the surface of Kari Lake on the slopes of Mt. Aragatz.

The company boasts this feat is a record for the underwater aging of wine at an elevation of 3,185 meters above sea level. 

Maran used the new but questionable method to age its Hade wine at a depth of eight meters in the lake for one year. 

An April 21, 2021 Decanter article states: “Underwater wine ageing has developed as a niche trend that has spread around the world – even if US regulators raised questions about the practice in 2015.” 

Some manufacturers are submerging wines in oceans and lakes, claiming evidence that underwater conditions affect a wine’s flavor. 

“Several trials have reported differences between ‘underwater wine’ and bottles or vats aged on land, but there are varying opinions and research is still very much an emerging area,” Decanter writes.

The magazine quotes Argentinian winemaker Patricia Ortiz reporting ‘stunning’ differences between Malbec blends aged in crates beneath the Atlantic Ocean and those on land, after a trial at her Wapisa winery in Patagonia. 

Antonio Palacios, the head vintner at Crusoe Treasure, which makes ten different wines and ages its bottles in the Bay of Plentzia (Spain), highlights several specific reasons why underwater ageing might accentuate certain aspects of a wine.

These range from natural temperature regulation and protection from light rays to the impact of pressure changes and the movement of the sea itself – which produces a ‘continual vibrating effect’ on the wines, Palacios said. 

Maran Winery reports that the underwater aged wine was laboratory tested and sampled by international experts.

Maran says the new aging technology “significantly improved the quality of wine, making it richer and more refined.”

Perhaps proving that underwater aging is a growing trend, Decanter points out that the first Underwater Wine Congress was held in 2019 and that a second will be held in Spain next year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in 2015, said “Submerging wine in the sea could lead to contamination if the bottle seals are compromised.”

Changes to pressure under the water line could in theory allow contaminants from gasoline to ‘various types of filth’ to get inside the bottle, said an advisory note from the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) published in March 2015. 

Wineries have pushed back, claiming there is no evidence of this being a problem if the right processes are followed.