To study the effects of the space environment on the ageing process of red wine, Space Cargo Unlimited selected 12 bottles of red wine from the year 2000 by Chateau Petrus and sent them to the International Space Station in November 2019. After staying in space for 438 days, these red wines were brought back to Earth by SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in January 2021.

Wine experts tasted the space wine. Experts said that the colour, aroma and taste of the space wine slightly differed from the Earth wine. Despite the same storage time (there is a slight difference between the two in relativity terms), experts thought the wine age of that of space was older than the ordinary wine. Some experts stated the space wine had a light brick red colour and with a hint of rose. The unopened space wines were sent for further analysis.

In addition to the bottle of wines, Space Cargo Unlimited also sent 300 grapevines to space in the same mission with aims to study the impact of space environment on plant growth. These vines will be analysed by biologists. Although the results have not yet been released, this experiment will help scientists to understand the growth of plants in different environments and cope with future climate changes or realise space farming.

Would you like to try the space wine? What kinds of food do you want to take to space and test how they differ from those on Earth?