New Zealand Wine Missing at Sea

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for the Dec. 31, 2011 - Jan. 15, 2012 issue

See Also
Sunken Treasure

Robert Taylor
Issue: December 31, 2011

Disaster has struck the coast of New Zealand, and to a considerably smaller extent, one Marlborough winery. In October, the Rena, a 775-foot-long, 50,000-ton cargo ship, ran aground on a reef as it was leaving New Zealand. Onboard the ship were 4,000 cases of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc-worth nearly $1 million. The name of the reef upon which the Rena remains stuck? Also Astrolabe. And the cruelest irony of all: An astrolabe is a navigational instrument that dates back more than 2,000 years, and which might have helped avoid the shipwreck.

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