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Italy's sea-aged sparkler: Bisson sinks this metodo classico to 60 metres off Portofino, where it rests three years in the dark at a steady 15C. Bone dry, briny and fine-bubbled, from Ligurian native grapes. The 2019 Riserva is £69 in the UK.
Prices read daily from 1 UK retailer. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.
One shop sells this wine in the UK, so there is no price to compare between shops. Each price is the one on its page today, read daily.
No current retailer offer matches that combination.
Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.
Bisson's own note leads its aromas with salmastro, the smell of sea air, and runs to a long mineral palate. Minerals and stone lead in the glass, with brioche and lemon behind.
Complex and intense, with a broad bouquet and a clear briny note: the producer's word is salmastro, sea-salt air. Minerals, stone and honey sit close by, with brioche from the three years resting on its yeast.
Lemon
Apple
Peach
Wet stones
Brioche
Butter
HoneyFrank and dry, with zero sugar added at the final step. Long and rich in minerality, with an elegant, fine-grained grip from skins that soaked for about 60 hours before fermentation.
Long, dry and intriguing, with the briny, stony note lasting longest. With no sugar added, nothing sweet rounds the exit.
A sparkling wine aged 36 months at 60 metres under the Ligurian Sea, and the best-liked Abissi so far. One for fish dinners and for anyone who wants a bottle whose ageing, the producer says, no cellar can copy.
One UK route today: Svinando sells the 2019 Riserva at £69 with free delivery. The producer's own shop prices it at 89 euros and currently shows it sold out.
High marks for occasions and fish dinners, low for everyday drinking: a £69 sea-aged Riserva is a story to open for someone, not a Tuesday pour.
A production story the producer calls a world first, Portofino on the label and barnacle-crusted gift bottles on request: occasions are the point.
Superb across seafood, fried food and aperitivo; it simply is not built for red meat or spice.
The £69 is serious, yet the producer's own shop wants 89 euros and is sold out; the UK price undercuts the cellar door.
Already aged three years at sea, with a five-to-ten-year life counted from the vintage, so there is no hurry.
Bone dry, briny and unusual: a leap for a first fizz, a revelation for the curious.
A £69 story bottle at 12.5% is for moments, not midweek.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Golfo del Tigullio-Portofino/Portofino denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
The 2019 is the best-liked Abissi yet, ahead of every earlier year. It is bottled at 12.5% and spent 36 months on the seabed before release.
Vivino's crowd rates the 2019 the best Abissi year yet, 4.2 from 90 ratings. It spent 36 months on the seabed; its retailer suggests five to ten years of life, which we anchor to the vintage, so about 2029 at the outside.
Vivino's crowd rates the 2019 the best Abissi year yet, 4.2 from 90 ratings. It spent 36 months on the seabed; its retailer suggests five to ten years of life, which we anchor to the vintage, so about 2029 at the outside.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Bisson sank its first bottles, the 2008 vintage, in 2009, and claims the world's first sea-aged sparkling wine. By its own account the house holds sparkling licence number one for the province of Genoa. At 60 metres the sea gives constant 15C, darkness and slow-moving currents.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Golfo del Tigullio-Portofino/Portofino is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Golfo del Tigullio-Portofino/Portofino falls within Liguria.
Winery
Chiavari
Wine area
Made at Vini Bisson, Chiavari. Directions
Sinking and raising steel cages off Portofino takes boats, divers and a 36-month wait for this Riserva before a single bottle is sold.
Bisson uses glass tested to 24 atmospheres and crown caps built to resist salt corrosion; ordinary packaging does not survive the sea.
Standard Abissi waits at least 18 months underwater and this Riserva 36, so every bottle carries years of financing before it earns a penny.
Excise duty at 2026 rates is £2.87 of the £69. The sea does the expensive work here, not the taxman.
Steel, bottle and seawater: there is no oak bill in this wine, and the second fermentation happens in the same bottle you buy.
The producer's advice is blunt: seafood and marine dishes from the first course to the last. The briny, bone-dry profile is built for shellfish, and it makes a fine aperitif.
Salt meets salt: the wine's briny, sea-air note sits naturally beside raw shellfish, and its bone-dry palate leaves the delicate sweetness of the fish in charge. This is the pairing the producer puts first.
Try with: Oysters · Sashimi · Nigiri Sushi · More pairings →
Sharp acidity and a fine, persistent bubble scrub frying oil off the palate between bites. Zero added sugar keeps the wine snappy where a sweeter fizz would turn heavy.
Try with: Fish and Chips · Prawn Tempura · Fish pakora
The producer recommends it across an entire meal of marine dishes, and the wine has the weight to follow. Light enough for a starter, it stays long enough for a main.
Try with: Cozze arraganate · Fish Tacos · Salt and pepper prawns
Bone-dry wines with high acidity open the appetite rather than filling it. Abissi belongs with the aperitif and appetisers, and fried or briny starters return the favour.
Try with: Gnocco fritto · Cozze arraganate · Oysters · More pairings →
A 12.5% bone-dry sparkler has nowhere near the tannin seared red meat needs, and chilli heat tramples its briny finish. For steak pour a structured Italian red, a Barolo or a Chianti Classico Riserva, instead.
Skip with: Fiorentina steak · Ribeye steak · Chicken madras · Pairing guide →
Give it a five-to-ten-year life; counted from the 2019 vintage that means about 2029. Bisson even sells selected bottles exactly as they surface, crust and all, as gift pieces: proof the packaging is part of the story.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.
Already aged three years at sea, with a five-to-ten-year life counted from the vintage, so there is no hurry.
£73.00 for a 75cl bottle of the 2019, at Svinando, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 6 Oct 2026, 01:54 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighNotes published by the producer, quoted with attribution.
Confidence · HighFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumAbissi is Bisson's sparkling wine matured on the seabed off Portofino, at 60 metres down. Piero Lugano sank the first bottles in 2009 and calls it the world's first sea-aged sparkling wine. The sea gives a steady 15C, total darkness and gentle pressure, which the producer says no cellar can copy.
Three Ligurian natives: Bianchetta Genovese, Vermentino and Çimixà, in proportions that change with the vintage. The grapes are picked early from vineyards at Trigoso by Sestri Levante. Before fermentation they soak on their skins for about 60 hours.
Bone dry and briny. The producer's own note lists a broad, intense bouquet with a clear sea-salt edge, then a long, mineral palate with a fine grip. Minerals, stone, brioche and lemon come through most.
Time and sugar. The Riserva stays on the seabed for 36 months, against at least 18 for the standard bottling, and it is dosaggio zero. When the yeast is finally removed, the bottle is topped with the same wine and no sugar at all.
Seafood, start to finish. The producer points it at shellfish and marine dishes across a whole meal, and it makes a fine aperitif with appetisers. Oysters, sashimi and fried fish all work.
It is £69 at Svinando UK for the 2019, while the producer's own shop prices it at 89 euros and shows it sold out. Serve it at 10C in a flute glass. Drink it within five to ten years; counted from the 2019 vintage that means about 2029.
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How retailer prices are sourced.
Prices and stock are read from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Outbound buy links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener". The list is sorted by price; we do not accept payment for placement.
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