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Champagne Mumm to launch fizz designed for space travel
Champagne Mumm is to enter the drinks space race later this year with the launch of a new fizz, with both the bottle and accompanying glasses specially adapted for consumption in zero gravity conditions.
The Champagne features a “revolutionary new bottle and glass concept” while the liquid itself takes on “new and unsuspected taste characteristics,” according to Mumm’s cellar master Didier Mariotti.
Founder of Spade, Octave de Gaulle, stated that the major challenge was actually getting the wine out of the bottle when exposed to zero gravity.
He said: “For the last 40 years, space travel has been shaped by engineers rather than designers. Instead of seeing zero gravity as a problem to be solved, we look at it as a design possibility. The big design challenge for Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar was actually getting the liquid out of the bottle.”
The specially-designed clear glass bottle uses the pressure within the bottle to expel the wine into a ring-shaped frame, when, in zero gravity, it looks like a droplet of bubbles. This droplet can then be gathered in a custom-made glass.
Conditions found in space also change the drinking experience too.
“It’s a very surprising feeling,” said Mumm cellar master Didier Mariotti.
“Because of zero gravity, the liquid instantly coats the entire inside of the mouth, magnifying the taste sensations. There’s less fizziness and more roundness and generosity, enabling the wine to express itself fully”.
The glasses, which are slightly concave and just five centimetres in diameter, catch the droplets of foam, with surface tension enabling the fizz to stick to the glass.
Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar will be served to guests on board zero gravity flights organised by Novespace, while the house says it is also in talks with other agencies to supply the fizz on future space missions and commercial space flights.
Earlier this year, a similar product, but for beer, was launched by space engineer Dr Jason Held.
The bottle, which uses modified technology from fuel tanks to defy zero gravity, includes a ‘wicking’ insert that allows the beer to flow in zero gravity.
Made from black aluminium, the design was said to be inspired by the “unique surface of the moon” and “the sensation of floating in space” and was the result of a partnership between Saber Astronautics and Jaron Mitchell of 4 Pines Brewery.