(VinePair) - In a time when more wines are available to consumers than ever before, not only are sommeliers constantly looking for new and interesting bottles, but winemakers themselves are looking for innovative, unique ways of making wine. When it comes to aging, producers are experimenting with types of oak, concrete vessel shapes, amphorae, solera systems, sur lie — the list goes on. But all around the world, some producers are looking to aging techniques that quite literally lie at greater depths, foregoing those land-aging techniques to experiment under the sea. Does the new frontier of wine aging lie underwater?

One of the first winemakers to experiment with underwater aging was Spaniard Raúl Pérez, already known for his innovative work championing the indigenous grape varieties of northwestern Spain. Pérez first decided to age wine underwater in 2003 when he sank bottles of Albariño grown in Rías Baixas vineyards just 500 feet from the ocean in a nearby bay for 60 days, later dubbing the bottles “Sketch.” Since then, more than a handful of producers around the world have experimented with underwater aging, from Mira Winery in Napa to Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion in Bordeaux to Louis Roederer in Champagne. Wines are being aged underwater in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, the U.S., Chile, South Africa, Australia, and beyond.