The experiment, which was actually one of a series called MISSION WISE. In a step up in sophistication to match its sophisticated subject matter, the space acronym for the mission stems from Latin – Vitis Vinum in Spatium Experimentia , or in more humble English, the “grape wine in the distance experiment.”
Even simply getting the bottles onto the space station took some doing, as a typical wine bottle contains two things that are typically forbidden on the ISS – glass, and alcohol. So the bottles of Bordeaux were locked away in sealed metal containers.Without controls, it wouldn’t be much of an experiment, so similar containers were kept here on Earth to age normally. And then finally, the results of the taste test were released in May of 2021.
That was only the first step, though – Space Cargo Unlimited have been busily following up with subsequent missions, including one where they put some grape vines on the ISS to see what effect microgravity had on them, if any. They’re currently replanted in greenhouses spread throughout France, with the first batch of grapes planned to be harvested from them later this year.