Before you decant, deep-sea dive

I don't know quite what to think now.

When I heard about wine anarchists cellaring wine at the bottom of a frozen lake, I first imagined the move as state-of-the-art, then as a fanciful prank. In the end, I think it was a sincere gesture made by wine lovers who don't like being hemmed in by the often constrainingly conservative world of wine.

News out of Saint-Malo, France indicates that the ocean-cellaring of wine is branching out in new directions. This Agence France-Presse newspaper article published last month suggests the unusual deep-sea storage of wine is getting serious attention from the more traditional wine establishment.

And that means you know the marketers can't be far behind. Click on the image above for the seductive offerings of Vina Casanueva, whose Cava Submarinas line of international varietals is not packaged in cases of twelve but laid out willy-nilly in barnacle-encrusted treasure chests. It's in this way that Cava Submarinas better gives wine adventurers "a legend emerging from the bottom of the sea". For their latest campaign, the winery also is kind enough to suit you up with goggles and an oxygen tank: access to this submerged cellar suddenly becomes self-serve.

If you're a pirate, that's probably how you'd want it anyway. Blackbeard will really get off on the video shown on the Casanueva site. Check it out, matey.

TASTY MORSELS

July marks the end of the birthday season among my closest circle of friends and this year we were really treated to some of the finest food BYOW Montreal has to offer. Our last stop was Restaurant Christophe, perhaps the nicest place in the city to bring out your favourite bottles for uncorking. We drank Domaine du Silène des Peyrals, among others. The way the food, the service, and the dining room ambiance came together, it was a real transportive experience. Like stumbling upon the most perfect Paris bistro.

If we once again put off the deep-sea diving during our next round of birthdays, we would surely call Christophe. Or even sooner than the next round of fêtes. They re-open after the Construction Holidays end on Sunday.