A Norwich man uses the power of the cosmos to make wine that is out of this world.
Ian Hutcheon, who grew up in Hellesdon and now runs Tremonte Vineyard in Chile, has won the National Award for Tourism Innovation for his project Taste The Stars.
He has installed a wave room at his own observatory which uses cosmic power from outer space, such as from Jupiter and even black holes, which are converted to audio and engulf the room.
These waves trigger a structural molecular change in the wine stored in bottles and black oak barrels in the room.
'The sound is eerie and tourists state that they feel goose-pimples and even energized as they sip their cosmic wines, while huge images of Galileo, Newton and Einstein observe them from the dark,' said Mr Hutcheon.
In 2007 Mr Hutcheon launched his own observatory which went on to become Centro Astronomico Tagua Tagua, and in July 2009 he bought his vineyard.
He is no stranger to innovative ideas. In 2012, Mr Hutcheon, who grew up in Clovelly Drive, Hellesdon, created what is believed to be the world's first 'sacrificed' wine.
He produced the Sacrificio wine - a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah aged in French oak barrels for 12 months – which were buried in the summit of Mount Tunca and left to the elements for an entire winter.
Tourists wanting to try the Sacrficio wine would have to climb the mountain and locate the wine using a map.
Speaking to this newspaper in 2012, he said: 'Four hundred years ago and beyond, indigenous groups in South America such as the Incas used to sacrifice animals, humans and valuable artefacts on the summits of mountains in request for a good harvest and to avoid tragedy.'
Also in 2012, Mr Hutcheon produced a Cabernet Sauvignon wine called Meteorito, which is believed to be the first wine aged with a meteorite formed during the birth of the solar system.
'The meteorite used in the creation of this wine came from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter,' He explained. 'And the idea behind submerging it in wine was to give everybody the opportunity to touch something from space, and extra-terrestrial rock, the very history of the solar system, and feel it via a grand wine.'
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