Anyone have one?

How do you like it?

Yes. Expensive but it's worth it. We have a lot of pricey wines, and sometimes just want a glass. Never had an issue with the bottle opened later.

Cartridges aren't cheap but the do last a while. We have friends who use it a lot more and invested in the adapter/large canister system that lasts a very long time and is a lot more cost effective.

Austintm said:

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Yes. Expensive but it's worth it. We have a lot of pricey wines, and sometimes just want a glass. Never had an issue with the bottle opened later.

Cartridges aren't cheap but the do last a while. We have friends who use it a lot more and invested in the adapter/large canister system that lasts a very long time and is a lot more cost effective.

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How long have you gone between extracting a glass and either opening it or extracting another one? I've seen people say you need to open and consume relatively soon once you've coravined a bottle, and that is what has held me back from getting one.

BigAg95 said:

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Austintm said:

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Yes. Expensive but it's worth it. We have a lot of pricey wines, and sometimes just want a glass. Never had an issue with the bottle opened later.

Cartridges aren't cheap but the do last a while. We have friends who use it a lot more and invested in the adapter/large canister system that lasts a very long time and is a lot more cost effective.

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How long have you gone between extracting a glass and either opening it or extracting another one? I've seen people say you need to open and consume relatively soon once you've coravined a bottle, and that is what has held me back from getting one.

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I would be interested to know as well. 99% of the time I have two glasses/half a bottle...but I may go as long as a week between. I figure If this thing will keep a half a bottle good for 2 weeks then I'm in.

Longest I've gone is about a month (usually more like a couple of weeks), and the wine was great. I have heard from others who said the wine was fine after a couple of months. Of course, you need to store the wine properly, and use it properly.

We did an experiment with the Coravin at Italics with our winemaking and sales team. Here's what we found... . There may be a difference in what we'd view as acceptable in our setting vs. what the average person would say for drinking on a normal day.

We saw that the Coravin was effective for generally around 14 days, but we've never really come close to even the 14 day mark aside from this experiment so we haven't really tracked it over more than the few dozen bottles we used for our experiment. The important qualifier that we feel very strongly about is that after the bottle goes below 60% full, the effectiveness goes way, way down. So, for checking in on the wine it works well to check in on something and then check on it again a week or so later. After the wine falls below 60% full, we figured you get about twice the preserving quality that you would just popping the cork and putting the cork back in the old fashioned way (so a few days).

Just to ground-truth that. We feel comfortable holding a wine with a pulled cork for the day it is opened for evaluative purposes, maybe a second day depending on the situation. We will never hold a bottle overnight if it is less than 3/4 full. There is simply too much oxygen in the bottle. One thing I DO NOT recommend is to Coravin half your cellar just to taste them thinking the Coravin will hold them indefinitely. With just a taste out of a bottle, it's a crap shoot on how long it will last and lots of wines will get better before they oxidize. For us, it is important for people to evaluate the wine as it opens up, so we are cautious.

We felt like 14 days was a safe bet based on our experiment, but some didn't last nearly that long and some lasted longer. There's a lot of variables floating around. Remember, cork is a piece of wood at the end of the day. Some corks (even within the same case of wine) will work better than others with the Coravin. Additionally some producers' corcks are basically shredded cork pressed together like particle board while others like us use solid cork. That will make a tremendous difference. Some wines are also more stable than others. If you spend enough time around us wine folk, you'll discover that everything in winemaking starts with "yes, but..." .... this is one of those situations.

In short, my professional advice is if you want to taste your prized cellar possession via Coravin mentally prepare yourself to enjoy it in its' entirety within a week or two of when you taste it the first time. If the bottle falls below half, go ahead an open it an enjoy it. You deserve to enjoy the wine at its' best, hopefully this helps you do so.

I forgot... ALWAYS keep the bottle standing straight up. If you put it on its' side after using the Coravin you are just increasing the surface area of wine that is touching air. putting it on its' side prematurely oxidized the wine at a rate substantially higher than leaving it straight up and down.

so much in winemaking is about surface area and extraction...

I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to taste a significant number of wines in a short period with a Coravin. It's not made for that purpose.

However, you make some good points about length of time, storage, etc. As I mentioned, I've only gone once (maybe a couple of times)over about 2 week. and never poured more than a standard pour for 2 glasses (and never double-dipped later -- I just open the bottle when we go back for the rest). We buy a lot of wine, and the average price for the cabs we have is +/- $150/bottle. Never had any issue on taste, and though we aren't in the industry, we try and drink a lot of wine.

Austintm, i'd say we're pretty well aligned there. i didnt mean to come across as if we're somehow more well prepped to taste wine being in the industry, just that the bottles we have open are for folks evaluating for purchase and it i important for us to give them an impression on how the wine will develop over time. that's a bit of a different environment than enjoying at home.

i'd also say that you're drinking ultra-premium stuff that should be stable and well put together. that is what i think most would consider the Coravin being designed for.

and you'd be surprised... i've had more than one person tell me how they've got 600 different wines in their cellar and they've tried them all via Coravin and are just waiting a year to check on them again to drink them when they are at their best... it is tough to hear, but it has happened more than once!

Hope we get a chance to enjoy a glass together sooner rather than later. I'll bring the Italics and Sixteen Appellations!

It sounds like what I'm after is suited well to the Coravin.

'Tap' one bottle for a glass or two and then within a week...pull the cork and finish the bottle.

Essentially...the coravin is buying me up to a week on a bottle by bottle basis.

Sound about right?

HTownAg98 said:

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What is this "partially consumed bottle " that you speak of? Sounds like heresy.

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Exactly! Bought one Cyber Monday at half price. Used it once. We just always finish a bottle. An Ag that has one says that if you stick a toothpick in the hole it can help. But yeah, I'm thinking weeks, not months.

cecil77 said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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What is this "partially consumed bottle " that you speak of? Sounds like heresy.

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Exactly! Bought one Cyber Monday at half price. Used it once. We just always finish a bottle. An Ag that has one says that if you stick a toothpick in the hole it can help. But yeah, I'm thinking weeks, not months.

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The operative word being "we". Easy when there's two wine drinkers.

92Ag95 said:

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cecil77 said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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What is this "partially consumed bottle " that you speak of? Sounds like heresy.

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Exactly! Bought one Cyber Monday at half price. Used it once. We just always finish a bottle. An Ag that has one says that if you stick a toothpick in the hole it can help. But yeah, I'm thinking weeks, not months.

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The operative word being "we". Easy when there's two wine drinkers.

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Problem solved. Single serve.

wtmartinaggie said:

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Austintm, i'd say we're pretty well aligned there. i didnt mean to come across as if we're somehow more well prepped to taste wine being in the industry, just that the bottles we have open are for folks evaluating for purchase and it i important for us to give them an impression on how the wine will develop over time. that's a bit of a different environment than enjoying at home.

i'd also say that you're drinking ultra-premium stuff that should be stable and well put together. that is what i think most would consider the Coravin being designed for.

and you'd be surprised... i've had more than one person tell me how they've got 600 different wines in their cellar and they've tried them all via Coravin and are just waiting a year to check on them again to drink them when they are at their best... it is tough to hear, but it has happened more than once!

Hope we get a chance to enjoy a glass together sooner rather than later. I'll bring the Italics and Sixteen Appellations!

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WT I'm slow, but just made the connection to who you are. We head to Napa typically a couple of times a year, but this year only one trip. That trip is the first few days of August. Would enjoy meeting you. Drop me an email at MCTaylor815@att dot net