Description

Scuba divers, Lake Erie Lovers, and Sparkling Wine Enthusiasts alike…. Check out this unique opportunity to join us for the retrieval of our first ever underwater aged sparkling wine THIS June!

Underwater you say? Aging sparkling wine underwater is a unique process that allows for stability of temperature, some gentle movement to encourage stirring of lees, and a HECK of a story….

….and we want you to be a part of it! Register to join us as a diver (must be licensed) or a passenger as we venture out onto Lake Erie to the site of the wreck where our “Midnight Herring” Sparkling Riesling has been aging underwater for just over 12 months. Watch us raise the bottles from the depths (130′!) and bring them back to shore – where we’ll toast, of course.

RETRIEVAL EVENT REGISTRATION INFO:

Dates:
Note – These dates are weather dependent. Registrants are committing to the target date:
– June 14th – target date
– June 15th – first back-up date
– June 21st – second back-up date
If we are unable to go out on our target date, registrants will be notified and given first chance to join us on our back-up date.

Pre-payment will be necessary to register. Refunds will be available in the event of a change of date.

Location:
Osprey Charters, Barcelona Harbor, Westfield, NY

Tickets:
There are a limited amount of spots available for both divers and passengers:
– Diver (must be licensed): $225 includes dive excursion, signed bottle (upon release), and ‘toast’ when we return to dock
– Passenger: $65 includes the boat excursion (no dive) and ‘toast’ when we return to dock
– Passenger Bottle Add-on: passengers have the opportunity to add one one bottle of signed sparkling wine (upon release) for $95
Press/media please contact us at vanessa@enjoymazza.com and pr@swellstart.com

REGISTER HERE 

Time:
Departure time from dock – 10 AM (arrive between 9 and 9:30).
Approximately 3 – 3.5 hours expected out on lake.
Please leave some time to join us for a toast upon return to the dock in Barcelona!

MORE BACKGROUND INFO:

The story begins here on the shores of Lake Erie – a region not only known for vineyards, but also for rum running and bootlegging during prohibition and for a myriad of ship wrecks. As a call back to those days, we’re naming this Sparkling Riesling our “Midnight Herring,” which, unlike it’s daytime fishing counterpart, referred to alcohol being brought across Lake Erie.

On June 1st, 2024, the team of the “Southwind,” captained by Mazza’s own John Poquadeck, departed from Barcelona harbor with 300 bottles of freshly triaged Riesling wine with special wax coatings to protect their crown caps. Also on that boat was Bob Mazza, who helped to rack the bottles into a specially prepared metal cage that was sunk and secured on the bottom of a Lake Erie near one of her historic wrecks. (We’ll be disclosing which wreck once the wine has been retrieved).

Nearly a year later, the conditions are right to raise up the sparkling and prepare it for public enjoyment! And we want YOU to join us! This is our very first time utilizing this process, but we plan to continue this adventurous sparkling wine product, pairing it with a different shipwreck for each vintage.

We want to give a special thanks to WQLN’s “Erie Chronicles – Rum Runners” series and David Frew’s book “Midnight Herring: Prohibition and Rum Running on Lake Erie” for helping to inspire this project, along with Mario Mazza’s time with his wife in Australia where, among a handful of places in the world, wines were being aged underwater. Having John, the captain of a dive charter boat on our team, along with our proximity to (and love for) Lake Erie, paired with our passion for sparkling wines – made this an obvious fit.

This limited release of “Midnight Herring” Sparkling Riesling will be available in Fall of 2025 at the South Shore Wine Company in North East.