Coravin: How to get the wine past the cork

As you all know, I love to eat, drink, and travel. I believe all three items are instinctively correlated. One of the main souvenirs I love to bring home from my travels is wine. Whether is Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley in Australia, Riesling from Upstate New York, or Grüner Veltliner from Austria, I enjoy collecting special bottles from small producers that are unique and rare to find at home. Sad part is some of these souvenirs go to waste because once the bottles are opened, they lose their luster no matter how many vacuum wine stoppers you use.

Coravin in Action

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with Greg Lambrecht, the inventor of Coravin, a device that solves the dilemma of tasting fine wine without committing to the bottle. As a medical device inventor and executive for wine and innovative technology, he was inspired to bring the two worlds together in order to solve the problem. The system is a transformational technology that allows users to pour and enjoy wine from their favorite bottles, without pulling the cork. Once the cork is removed from a bottle, the wine is exposed to air and oxidation begins. The Coravin Wine Access System allows users to pour wine while leaving the cork in place.


Beauty Preserved

 Before meeting Greg, I was a little skeptical how such device would work.  After meeting him two things were certain: a. he knows his wines and b. he has been able to get some of the most discriminating establishments around the world to try the system and use it in their restaurants and cellars. He demonstrated how the system works by pouring a glass of 2008 Barolo and 2010 Clos du Cromin which had previously been poured twice a few years in between . The Barolo had the same silkiness and you can smell the lemony notes of the Clos du Cromin as if you have initially opened the bottled.  The only downfall is that the device can’t preserve sparkling wine, but they are currently working on a solution. The verdict: A great device to have whether you are a collector, a traveler, or a person who entertains. Needless to say, it’s on my Christmas list.