Coravin - Enjoying your wines your way
Allen R. Balik
Throughout my 40-plus years of savoring, studying and collecting wines, I have observed a never-ending stream of gimmicks and gadgets coming to market with the intention of making our wine drinking experience easier and more complete. But are they needed and do they, in fact, fulfill their stated purpose? Do any stand out?
Wine preservation systems that rely on pumping the air (unavoidably, along with the aromatics) out of a leftover bottle through a rubber stopper to avoid oxidation, often leaving the remaining wine flat and without character. Why use an electrical plug-in or cordless injected air pump to remove the cork when a far less expensive and more efficient waiter’s cork-pull or two pronged Ah-So type tools are readily available? Swirly swan-shaped decanters are beautifully artistic as a table decoration but impossible to clean and dry without leaving telltale water spots throughout the inner surfaces. These are only a few examples of rather expensive and unnecessary gadgets that have come to market and often disappear after their introduction.
The Coravin system of wine sampling and preservation runs counter to these eclectic examples of questionable devices. Coravin is a unique concept in the wine market that, according to its Inventor, Founder and CEO Greg Lambrecht, solves the “unmet need” he envisioned in 1999 when he began his research into the system and its market potential.
Lambrecht is a trained and successful biomedical engineer, physicist, innovator and inventor of countless medical devices. Through his professional background and multi-skillsets, Lambrecht was able to adapt his training and knowledge to identify and fill the unmet need of a wine lover to, “Enjoy as much as you like of any wine, from any bottle at any time while still leaving the bottle sealed and preserved for the next time.”
So, how does this work?
First, let’s look at one of Lambrecht’s most needed medical inventions. This was the IV Implanted Port that is widely used as a long-term vascular access device for patients requiring extended intravenous therapy such as chemotherapy for cancer. The Port is a resealable silicon rubber device with a chamber that is surgically implanted under the skin (usually in the chest area) and connected by a small catheter directly to a vein. A special needle is then inserted through the seal and into the chamber for rapid and prolonged intravenous treatments without the need for repeated painful injections directly into a vein of the arm or elsewhere.
The Coravin is essentially the same concept with one crucially important and ingenious addition – a replaceable argon cartridge. A long surgical-grade needle is inserted through the capsule and cork. As the bottle is placed in the horizontal position, the needle is submerged in the wine and a quick press of the lever releases a shot of inert argon gas into the wine, displacing a small sampling through the silicon rubber chamber and into the glass. Quite simple and effective. Another sample can be withdrawn in the same manner or the device can be removed while the cork remains intact in the bottle for additional storage and aging to enjoy at a later time.
Although Lambrecht and his team have logged up to a dozen or more insertions of the needle into the same cork for subsequent uses, the quality of the cork itself is integral to how many times it may be penetrated by the device.
Earlier this summer, I attended a Coravin 10th Anniversary “Milestone Tasting” at Napa’s CIA at Copia with Lambrecht and other members of his team. We were presented with four blind samples of wines that had been “Coravined” up to 10 years before paired to the same wines that had not yet been opened. The results were amazing as many trained industry professionals in the audience did not detect any difference or had the samples reversed in their impressions.
At a reception following the presentation we were also treated to samples of a 2005 Peju Cabernet Sauvignon in magnum that was less than half full and had been first Coravined in 2013. The wine was fresh and showed no signs of premature aging or oxidation. Another succinct demonstration of the Coravin system in real time.
Lambrecht has long been wine lover but was always troubled with having to open a 750ml bottle to enjoy just a glass or two. He is a big believer is a single-serve format and feels strongly this will be the future of wine. At home, Lambrecht has about 220 bottles of red, white and sparkling wines and views his collection and his Coravin as a personal reservoir for “a 220 by-the-glass selection, ensuring and infinite variety available every night.”
Typically, he and his wife may enjoy four or five different wines between them over the span of dinner and the evening. The same is true when entertaining where the selection can be even more diverse to suit a broader range of choices for his guests. This is only possible with a Coravin where his by-the-glass selection will also be preserved for future enjoyment whenever he decides to revisit a specific bottling.
Matching Lambrecht’s love of wine and the diversity it offers from growing areas and varieties around the world, he sees an interesting inverse relationship between that and his life’s work in medicine. “Medical devices are full of conflicts of interest – I’ve got to get through the gauntlet of doctors, professional societies, hospitals, insurance companies, and governments to be able to ultimately benefit the patient. With Coravin, I’m in the world of wine, which is a cathartic release from the conflicts of interest inherent in medicine.”
Since Lambrecht’s original work with Coravin and its ultimate launch in 2013, he has remained engaged with the project and marvels at the broad range of uses and preferences consumers have related back to the company. The first is the obvious benefit of enjoying a wide range of wines by-the-glass and knowing the rest of the bottle will be in top shape for the next exploration. I also find Coravin very useful in checking on the condition of older bottles before opening them for guests or taking them to a wine event.
Other thoughts go to one’s ability to relish a particular wine every night without having to open an entire bottle and worry about its stability over time. The opportunity to enjoy specific wines paired to each course even when dining alone at home. Being able to periodically check on a wine’s development over time (remember the 2005 Peju Cabernet from the Milestone Tasting that was first Coravined in 2013) is an important feature for those interested in aging wines. And perhaps the strangest Lambrecht has encountered – Coravin provides an easy way to do your own at-home blending of multiple wines in the glass.
In the last few years, Coravin has branched out to offer the same experiences in the world of sparkling wine along with the introduction of an alternate system that replaces the cork or stopper with the “Pivot” device that is also applicable to a wide range of spirits and Sake. Check coravin.com for further information on these new additions and many other accessories available for use with the Coravin system.
Coravin is not just a “preservation” system although it does that quite well. Lambrecht’s first thought and ultimate success with Coravin was more in the direction of a wine-by-the-glass system that would ensure the cork remained in place and the natural aging process would continue in the sealed bottle under the protection of argon gas.
As with the medical device field, product integrity is of the utmost importance to Lambrecht; the product must work and not falter. In the 10 years since its release and with all the subsequent additions to the product line, this goal has been reached with virtually a zero rate of return or dissatisfaction. This is a real testament to product quality and to date, more than one million units have been sold to consumers, restaurants, wine shops, wineries and other end users serving an estimated 250 million glasses of wine in 60 countries.
Lambrecht is also quick to point out, “The person who pays for Coravin is the one who directly benefits. As soon as you buy a Coravin system you can start drinking whatever you want, in whatever quantity you want, without having to think about when you will drink that bottle next. It’s liberating.”