Wine that went to International Space Station could fetch $1M

That’s one small sip for man. One giant leap in price for mankind.

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Christie’s said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine that spent more than a year orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station, The Associated Press reported. The London-based auction house believes a wine connoisseur might pay up to $1 million for the bottle of Pétrus 2000.

The wine was aged in a “carefully monitored and controlled environment,” Christie’s said in a news release. The fermented grape was sent into space as part of a series of experiments conducted by Space Cargo Unlimited.

The wine is available for immediate purchase through Christie’s Private Sales option.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward funding future space missions, Christie’s said.

The Pétrus 2000 is one of 12 bottles sent into space in November 2019 by researchers exploring the potential for extraterrestrial agriculture, the AP reported. Wine experts who sampled it at a tasting at the Institute for Wine and Vine Research in Bordeaux, France, in March said it was subtly altered.

A dozen experts compared the wine to a bottle from the same vintage that remained on Earth in a cellar, the AP reported.

Sending the wine, which goes for $10,000 per bottle on Earth, into space will probably make it worth 100 times its value on the ground. The wine is known for its complexity, silky, ripe tannins and flavors of black cherry, cigar box and leather, the AP reported.

“This bottle of Pétrus 2000 marks a momentous step in the pursuit of developing and gaining a greater understanding of the maturation of wine,” Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, said in a news release. “Christie’s is delighted to bring this first of its kind bottle to the market and to support Space Cargo Unlimited to continue their research into the future of agricultural practices.”

The bottle of wine will be offered in a trunk handcrafted by the Parisian Maison d’Arts Les Ateliers Victor, Christie’s said in its release. The package will also include a decanter, glasses and a corkscrew made from a meteorite, the auction house said.

After buying the wine at a price that is out of space, would the winner drink it?

“I would hope that they will decide to drink it, but maybe not immediately,” Tiptree told the AP. “It’s at its peak drinking, but this wine will last probably another at least another two or three decades.”



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