Coravin changing the taste of a bottle?

I am having fun with the Coravin we bought 2 months ago, opening bottles left and right. Great experience so far.
One month and a half ago we drank a glass of Valentini, and used Coravin. The wine was very natural, smelled foxy with gas, with a lot of vivacity. I had the same wine 2 weeks before that tasting, and it was very similar taste as that bottle, confirming that it was not bottle variation.
Opening it now, that foxiness disappeared but at the same time the freshness as well. It is more now settled wine, but not as fun nor complex. This is one case when Coravin definitely changed the taste of the wine.
And no leakage in the cork, in case you are asking.
Maybe Coravin doesn’t work with natural wine?

You have to be careful with what you pour from the Coravin, Ive found it shuts down more delicate wines and helps wines that are made in a reduced fashion. I use the Coravin a lot and it took a while to adjust…

You need to make sure that prior to inserting the needle into the bottle you blow out the air in the needle as even a little oxygen in the bottle can affect the wine over time.

I did make sure do expel any air before inserting the needle.
As mentioned, I don’t think the system works well with all wines, but I’d like to hear other experiences.

Are you using the thinner needle ?

The idea that the coravin does not effect the wine at all is unfortunately just a marketing ploy. I’ve not had a single bottle that hasn’t changed for the worse over the mid-term (say six weeks or so). Older bottles die relatively quickly (even after a week, which was the case with a Latour '62) and young wines loose their freshness; eventually they die as well, especially if you access them multiple times. The bottle I’ve had that lasted the longest was a Rabaud Promis 2003, which was dead after 5 months and 6 punctures.

I contacted Greg Lambrecht about this and was advised to put a bit of wax on the cork to prevent oxygen getting in. Neither this, nor the wine condoms, have helped in the slightest. I have used two separate caravin devices, I always expel some gas just before inserting, and I always use the thin needle.

I still use the coravin now and then but always drink up within a week or two, and never use it on older bottles. It’s a shame as the device seemed so promising in theory!

So we can’t have our cake and eat it too?? rolleyes

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I have been using my Coravin for over a year now, almost exclusively with the vintage needle, and have noticed changes in some bottles, while they haven’t gone bad they definitely seem different. For example I had a Meursault that was very vibrant and crisp with the first glass, when revisited a week or two later it had lost this, but was still enjoyable and certainly not bad. I do occasionally forget to expel the air before entering the bottle and may have forgotten on this one. One thing I do is rinse the needle inside and out with grain alcohol right before using as I am worried about the introduction of bacteria into the wine. Overall I think it works great and most bottles don’t change considerably, and I’ve yet to have a bottle go bad. The longest I’ve waited to finish a bottle once accessed is about 4 months, and I typically will open the bottle after 3 entries. My wife and I use it pretty extensively as we aren’t home together very often and have found it really useful for having just a single glass of wine without opening a whole bottle that we know we won’t be able to finish in the next couple of days.

You mean shooting gas in to a bottle and squeezing wine through a tiny needle (regardless of which one you use) DOES change the taste profile of a wine??? Speechless.

neener

Well, it appears we have finally found something that can change the flavor profile of a wine! [cheers.gif]

If another thread is to be believed, just leave these bottles open.

Sort of an “informal analysis”, and now that I’m back in the swing of things at retail, I’ve seen a lot of wine come through with Coravin, and some of them just don’t taste right (especially Pinot and light whites). Then they open the bottle, and it’s pretty night and day. Basically what we taste from the Coravin sample is that the wine is mostly stripped out.

I would be curious to know whether the botttle of Valentini was left upright or on its side. I’ve had better luck keeping bottles upright.

Which Valentini? Treb? Montepulciano? Rose?

Volatile aromatic compounds will leave the wine to the head space to the point a new equilibrium is found. That effect will depend how much are there to begin with and what the new proportion is. Anecdotally I’ve heard it can be a big factor below a certain significant depletion of volume remaining. Not surprising some wines could see a big loss without much being displaced. Some people are surely more sensitive to detect the change.

Hadn’t heard of needle shock before. Perhaps those colloids are getting bruised. (Paging Dr. Smith. Dr. Clark Smith to the forum discussion room, STAT!)

I’ve found that a couple weeks post coravin is similar to a good decant. One I let go about 2 months was dead - really nothing left. Coravin is great for a taste but in my experience drink within a couple weeks.

Laying on it’s side in the eurocave

Trebbiano

I think the Coravin is an effective tool in commercial usage and more of a toy for home.

Several of our wine reps use the Coravin, probably going through two cartridges a day while showing wines. It used to be they opened the wine at a restaurant in the morning or early afternoon and we in retail would get to taste the wine after it had been open 4 to 6 hours with numerous pours and recorks. It worked okay most of the time as restaurants want to know how the wine is when it’s first opened and retail generally looks for decant times or longevity. The Coravin gives retail a little more insight to the wine when first opened. (Also kills my reasoning that we need to try each new wine purchased to sell so we know how it is when first opened.)

As a “wine bar,” we feature several wines and use the Coravin. We aren’t real busy and after a wine has been Coravined, it has a four to seven day life cycle. (Coravined whites often last longer because of refrigeration). Busy wine bars would probably not need a Coravin if they have a set menu of by the glass pours. The Coravin still reduces the amount of wine we pour out as bar breakage/spoilage.

We sell the Coravin but will not take one home. Wine at home is finished or survives until the next day with a Haley’s Corker in it.

Great post!

I think this explains why so many wines are noticeably less aromatic after some coravining but don’t smell oxidized. Sometimes there’s simply less aroma. Sometimes they actually smell and taste different, not just muted. I remember pouring a wine for a friend and asking what he thought. After a brief nosing, he said it smelled like it had been coravined.

Agree with all of this. I’ve noticed that they can be less aromatic, but not oxidized. Still, a good tool for me to use in the short term (1-2 weeks), but not the magic bullet.