<p><br /> The world's oldest drinkable champagne has been tasted after nearly two centuries under water.<br /> </p><p><br /> One of the world's foremost champagne experts, Richard Juhlin, who tasted the vintage bubbly said he detected hints of honey and peach.<br /> </p><p><br /> The vintage champagne, thought to be from the early 19th century, was salvaged from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland in July.<br /> </p><p><br /> A total of 168 bottles were raised in the salvage operation, officials of the semiautonomous Finnish archipelago told reporters on Wednesday.<br /> </p><p><br /> At the time they couldn't identify the brands because the bottles had no labels.<br /> </p><p><br /> But champagne house Veuve Clicquot said in a statement on Wednesday that experts analyzing the branding of the corks "were able to identify with absolute certainty" that three of the bottles were Veuve Clicquot."<br /> </p><p><br /> Other bottles examined were attributed to the now defunct champagne house Juglar, it said.<br /> </p><p><br /> Veuve Clicquot said it used the Baltic route for shipments to the imperial court of Russia.<br /> </p><p><br /> French champagne house Perrier-Jouet, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, has earlier stated that their vintage from 1825 is the oldest recorded champagne still in existence.<br /> </p><p><br /> Some of the bottles will be sold at an auction, where Juhlin said they could fetch more than £40,000 each.<br /> </p>
