Space Cargo Unlimited has sent a case of red Bordeaux into outer space. It’s not for astronauts to drink but it’s rather an experiment to see if the lack of gravitational pull has any effect on wine after a year in space.

A case of the same wine will be preserved on Earth so that a scientific comparison can be made.

Alas, wine wasn’t the first or only beverage to be test. Beer, scotch and other spirits have been launched a million miles away as part of a broad analysis to see if agricultural can survive in places other than here.

My imagination just wanders at the thought. Could vineyards on Mars be far away? If there isn’t gravity, how on Earth will one pour wine into the glass? Or keep it in their mouth?

Researchers have stumbled on to wine that has been unwittingly stored for centuries in amphoras, at bars in Pompeii and even at the bottom of the ocean in sunken ships. Why not space?