Fancy a deep red? The rise of underwater wineries

After bottles were recovered in top shape from a first world war shipwreck, winemakers have started to exploit the sea’s cool, dark environment

Slipping into the chilly waters of the Baltic sea, the divers descended more than 60 metres to where the masts of the Jönköping lay strewn across the seabed. They glided past the wounds left when the Swedish schooner was sunk by a German U-boat in 1916 to home in on the rare treasure they had come for: thousands of bottles of 1907 Heidsieck champagne.

Related: Champagne found at sea turns out to be world's oldest vintage

If I put 20 wine tanks below the sea – all exactly the same – they’ll all come back different

We’re opening a window in a world that’s still to be discovered