Very OLD Widow!

For you lovers of reverent liturgy and Summorum Pontificum… try this!

And review this.

On July 6th, Swedish divers were exploring off Aaland Island, midway between Sweden and Finland, looking for a sailing vessel they’d encountered earlier when they found the wreck of a small ship just 20 meters (65.6 feet) long.

Visibility was so bad that they couldn’t find the name of the ship or its bell, so the head of the diving team, Christian Ekstroem, grabbed one of 30 bottles slumbering peacefully in the wreck and brought it to the surface, hoping there would be markings on the bottle that could date the ship. Ekstroem never expected that there would be anything of note inside. He assumed the bottles had long since been invaded by seawater.

Diver Christian Ekstrom with Veuve Cliquot from Baltic wreckHe was wrong. The corks kept their seal and the cold and dark of the deep Baltic preserved the champagne. Inside the bottle they found champagne, and not just champagne but drinkable champagne, complete with fizz. Ekstroem contacted champagne vintners Moet & Chandon, and they identified it with 98% certainty from the anchor marking on the cork as 18th century Veuve Clicquot.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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12 Comments

  1. teomatteo says:

    now that is my kind of narcosis!!!

  2. JamesA says:

    “May I recommend Veuve Cliquot (17)’86 ? A good French wine.” !!
    With apologies to Captain Louis Renault…

  3. Luke says:

    Who needs to know the name of the ship. By the way, do WDTPRS users get a discount on that champaign?

  4. Supertradmum says:

    Shows that somethings are just better when older….

  5. ejcmartin says:

    I hope it’s pre-1789, personally I find the post-revolutionary stuff rather bitter.

  6. edwardo3 says:

    One more proof of God’s love for man…

  7. q7swallows says:

    And building on edwardo3’s comment . . . Father, as much as I enjoy God’s gift of fermented beverages, I’ll take reading your slavishly literal liturgical translations over drinking vintage champagne any day!  The bouyant impact lasts longer!

    If you have the time, would you be so kind as to favor us with one from today’s Mass, perhaps?

  8. yatzer says:

    Are they looking for volunteers for additional testing of the product?

  9. wanda says:

    I wonder what the title, very old widow, is all about? Clueless and curious.

  10. Alice says:

    Wanda, Veuve=Widow in French. Veuve Clicquot champagne is often known as “the Widow” (unless you’re one of us organists, who call it “organ builder champagne” because of the famous Clicquot who built organ, such as the one at St. Sulpice ;)). Since this champagne is 200+ years old, it’s a very old Widow.

  11. wanda says:

    Alice, Thank you so much for the enligtenment. Very interesting.

  12. wanda says:

    Coincidence? Our son just brought us a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne as an anniversary gift. I told him the tale above about bringing up the bottles that had been buried at sea.

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