According to Ekström the wreck, which appears to be dating from the 1700’s, is completely intact.

He took one to the surface, where he opened it and tasted it with his colleagues. When they opened it, they found the wine - believed to have been made by Clicquot (now Veuve Clicquot) between 1782 and 1788 - was still in good condition.

"It was fantastic. It had a very sweet taste, you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell. And there were very small bubbles." he told the Reuters news agency.

Oldest champagne in the world
The bottle - whose shape indicates it was produced in the 18th Century - has now been sent to France for analysis. If the bottles do come from the 1780s, that would make them around 40 years older than the current record-holder, a bottle of Perrier-Jouet from 1825. If confirmed, it would be the oldest drinkable champagne in the world.

$69,000 a bottle
Wine experts estimate each bottle would fetch around 500,000 Swedish kronor (£45,000; $69,000) at auction but Christian Ekstrom and his friends will none of that. According to Åland law wrecks and artefacts older than 100 years belong to the state.

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