Central Florida is getting the first peek — and taste — of ocean-aged wine, a process that could revolutionize the industry.

California winemaker Gustavo Gonzalez is overseeing the 2-year-old project in which barrel-fermented cabernet sauvignon was bottled and then dropped in secure crates into the 60-foot-deep Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina.

At a private dinner on Friday night, 22 guests at The Palm sampled the wine, produced by Mira Winery. The Hard Rock Hotel restaurant at Universal Orlando has a partnership with Mira, a key reason for the wine being previewed here first.

Gonzalez, who works for the Napa Valley winery, said the results of the experiment both please and fascinate him.

“The first wine we brought up was analyzed against the same vintage aged on land,” he said. “Chemically they were identical but there was a distinct difference in the wines’ taste and aroma. The submerged wine had aged nicely with well structured tannins.”