EN
English
French
- Chris Boiling
- 2023-06-20
Van Zellers & Co is ageing a vintage port underwater, off the coast of Portugal. 102 bottles of Van Zellers & Co 2020 Vintage Port Ocean Aged will stay under the Atlantic Ocean, near Sines, for 11 months – being brought to shore again on November 16, 2023 (Portugal’s National Sea Day).
The bottles – in two crates – were submerged on December 7, 2022, in partnership with diving school Ecoalga and underwater storage company Adega do Mar. We wrote about their cooperation with Gordon Ramsey’s 1890 Restaurant here.
Francisca van Zeller, 15th generation family member of Van Zellers & Co and marketing and communication manager, helped take the crates to a depth of 10m. It was her first dive! She says: “Here the bottles find 1 bar of pressure, which is a safe amount to kickstart the ageing process of the vintage port. The bottles will also find a constant temperature and a dark environment for a good development. And an added value is the beautiful sea algae that start to appear on the bottles.”
Francisca aims to dive again to help bring the crates back out of the water.
She expects ocean-ageing to add extra complexity, smoothen the tannins and help blend all the different red fruit flavours.
The first 35 bottles will be sold exclusively through WineChain, a marketplace for fine wine non-fungible tokens (NFTs). WineChain will offer 12 months of free storage with the purchase of the NFT, as well as white-glove shipping solutions.
Van Zellers & Co has partnered with Zouri Shoes, an eco-vegan footwear brand that uses plastic trash from the Portuguese coast together with ecologic and sustainable materials, to develop the single bottle casing. With the help of 600 volunteers, Zouri has collected one ton of plastic just from Portuguese shores. Zouri then breaks down the plastic into small particles, joins them with natural rubber, and produces soles of shoes. The Van Zellers & Co Vintage Porto 2020 Ocean Aged bottles will be shipped in a shell-like case designed and produced by Zouri and their partners using only recovered plastic from Portugal’s coasts (below).
“Portugal has expanded its horizons through sea navigations. The sea territory is 40 times larger than the terrestrial one, so it is safe to say Portugal is 97% water,” Francisca points out. “Sea pollution levels are rising. Every year, about 14 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the ocean from coastal nations. The collaboration with Zouri shoes and Lisbon’s Oceanarium aims to call attention to a pressing matter and how we should best take care of our land by taking care of our seas.”
Van Zellers & Co Vintage Porto 2020 was produced with handpicked grapes from very old vineyards located in the heart of the Douro Valley. Van Zellers & Co Vintage Ports are traditionally foot-stomped in granite stone tanks, where the wine ferments. After about three days, brandy is added to the fermenting must, preserving the intensity of red fruit aromas, with jammy notes and hints of cassis. Dark spices, dark chocolate, plum and dried fig notes develop over time.
Van Zellers & Co will use part of the proceeds from this wine to sponsor an educational programme organised by the Oceanário de Lisboa (Lisbon’s Aquarium), about the importance of the ocean, directed at schoolchildren in the Douro region. Children between the ages of 6 and 18 will be able to learn from experts on the ocean about the diversity of sea life and how best to protect it.
In 2007, Cristiano received a call from his cousin João, offering him the Van Zellers & Co brand as a Christmas present. In 2020, the family celebrated 400 years in the wine trade and relaunched the company with a new brand image. Van Zellers & Co currently has 16ha of vineyards on the banks of the Torto River, Pinhão Valley and Murça, and in 2022 produced a total of 49,172 bottles.
The bottles – in two crates – were submerged on December 7, 2022, in partnership with diving school Ecoalga and underwater storage company Adega do Mar. We wrote about their cooperation with Gordon Ramsey’s 1890 Restaurant here.
Francisca van Zeller, 15th generation family member of Van Zellers & Co and marketing and communication manager, helped take the crates to a depth of 10m. It was her first dive! She says: “Here the bottles find 1 bar of pressure, which is a safe amount to kickstart the ageing process of the vintage port. The bottles will also find a constant temperature and a dark environment for a good development. And an added value is the beautiful sea algae that start to appear on the bottles.”
Francisca aims to dive again to help bring the crates back out of the water.
She expects ocean-ageing to add extra complexity, smoothen the tannins and help blend all the different red fruit flavours.
The first 35 bottles will be sold exclusively through WineChain, a marketplace for fine wine non-fungible tokens (NFTs). WineChain will offer 12 months of free storage with the purchase of the NFT, as well as white-glove shipping solutions.
Van Zellers & Co has partnered with Zouri Shoes, an eco-vegan footwear brand that uses plastic trash from the Portuguese coast together with ecologic and sustainable materials, to develop the single bottle casing. With the help of 600 volunteers, Zouri has collected one ton of plastic just from Portuguese shores. Zouri then breaks down the plastic into small particles, joins them with natural rubber, and produces soles of shoes. The Van Zellers & Co Vintage Porto 2020 Ocean Aged bottles will be shipped in a shell-like case designed and produced by Zouri and their partners using only recovered plastic from Portugal’s coasts (below).
“Portugal has expanded its horizons through sea navigations. The sea territory is 40 times larger than the terrestrial one, so it is safe to say Portugal is 97% water,” Francisca points out. “Sea pollution levels are rising. Every year, about 14 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the ocean from coastal nations. The collaboration with Zouri shoes and Lisbon’s Oceanarium aims to call attention to a pressing matter and how we should best take care of our land by taking care of our seas.”
Van Zellers & Co Vintage Porto 2020 was produced with handpicked grapes from very old vineyards located in the heart of the Douro Valley. Van Zellers & Co Vintage Ports are traditionally foot-stomped in granite stone tanks, where the wine ferments. After about three days, brandy is added to the fermenting must, preserving the intensity of red fruit aromas, with jammy notes and hints of cassis. Dark spices, dark chocolate, plum and dried fig notes develop over time.
Van Zellers & Co will use part of the proceeds from this wine to sponsor an educational programme organised by the Oceanário de Lisboa (Lisbon’s Aquarium), about the importance of the ocean, directed at schoolchildren in the Douro region. Children between the ages of 6 and 18 will be able to learn from experts on the ocean about the diversity of sea life and how best to protect it.
Van Zellers & Co
Van Zellers & Co was established in 1780, although the family has been producing wines in the Douro region since 1620. Cristiano van Zeller, 14th generation in the wine trade, dedicated his life to the Douro and its wines, first on his family property Quinta do Noval, then in the development of different projects in the region, namely Quinta Vale D. Maria until 2020.In 2007, Cristiano received a call from his cousin João, offering him the Van Zellers & Co brand as a Christmas present. In 2020, the family celebrated 400 years in the wine trade and relaunched the company with a new brand image. Van Zellers & Co currently has 16ha of vineyards on the banks of the Torto River, Pinhão Valley and Murça, and in 2022 produced a total of 49,172 bottles.
.png)
.png)
