Space wine is aged with a 4.5 billion year old meteorite

Ian Hutcheon has always loved wines and astronomy, and "wanted to find some way of combining the two." Thus, Meteorito was created — a red wine made out of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes…and a bit of space.

A 4.5 billion year old meteorite rests at the bottom of the wine barrel for 12 months while it's undergoing malolactic fermentation, which is a process that softens the wine's tarty flavors. The 3" meteorite that actually belongs to an anonymous American collector came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. "When you drink this wine, you are drinking elements from the birth of the solar system," Hutcheon said.

It's believed that the tiny space stone fell to earth some 6,000 years ago at the Atacama Desert in Chile. The idea behind Meteorito's creation, according to Hutcheon, is to give people the opportunity to be in contact with something from outside our planet. When asked how the meteorite actually affects the wine, he vaguely answered that it gives the liquor a "livelier taste."

Unfortunately for space liquor enthusiasts out there, Meteorito is only available at an observatory Hutchen launched in 2007 called Centro Astronomico Tagua Tagua in Chile. However, he plans to export it around the world in the future. Hutcheon told Tecca that the wine currently costs $10 per bottle, but the price will be bumped to approximately $15 if and when it arrives in the United States.



[Image credit: Isante Magazine]

[via Discovery, The Drinks Business]

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