Bodega Oceánica José Ignacio have been cellaring their Albariño and Tannat wines in a rather unusual place… 15 meters underwater off the coast of Uruguay! In the innovative Ultramar project, owners Marcelo Conserva and Natalia Welker decided to age their water in an underwater cellar to see how it aged and evolved differently. On a recent visit, I got to taste the results and I can certainly tell you it does make a difference!
The inspiration came from the vineyard and winery’s position just 10 kilometers from the sea… They wanted to find a way to get more involved with their maritime influence and also get the villagers of José Ignacio involved. Now Marcelo and Natalia make a bi-annual dive to their underwater cellar with the help of local fishermen and divers in order to deposit new vintages, and pull up some of the aged vintages.
The Ultramar project also goes further than just the underwater cellar, but Marcelo and Natalia (who are passionate about sustainability and design) in fact collect and use recycled fishing nets and plastic from the sea to make the bags for the wines, and use stones collected on the beach which are engraved by a local artist as the natural wine label.