22 Apr 2015
Have your cake and eat it
Or rather, drink your wine and lay it down
'This blows my mind' - Robert Parker
The world of wine gadgets may suffer from the occasional gimmick, and Coravin may at first glance look like a fancy pistol, but it is set to be a wine world game-changer. Want to check on how that '08 Chambolle is getting on without consuming a whole bottle just yet? Fancy a sip of that '54 Terrantez Madeira that you never quite find an occasion special enough to open? Coravin lets you withdraw wine without removing the cork or letting oxygen in; you get a glass of whatever you fancy and the rest of the wine continues to mature undisturbed in the bottle.
| Coravin was developed by an inventor of medical devices whose wife's pregnancy meant they no longer got through a whole bottle in one evening. So how does it work? Clamped onto the end of a bottle, the Coravin allows a fine, surgical steel syringe to be pushed through the cork. Wine is drawn out through the needle, and is replaced not by oxygen, but by inert food-grade argon gas. When you draw the needle out again, the cork reseals due to its natural elasticity and your wine continues to slumber. |
|
| The key to Coravin is that, unlike the oenomatic machines appearing in some wine merchants and upscale bars, the bottle is accessed but not broached; no oxygen enters. There are some bottles that were first accessed by Coravin 8 years ago, and are still identical to unaccessed bottles. Super-palate Robert Parker was unable to spot the difference between a bottle that had been accessed by Coravin and one that hadn't. Coravin has even managed to convince the most challenging audience of all: sceptical Uncorked staff members. So is Coravin tricky to manage? Not at all. Ask us for an in-store demo. /NT |
Available in the shop now
