2014 Greer Cabernet-unusual incident

I drank about two glasses of the 2014 Greer Cabernet about 6 months back by way of Coravin. (I wanted to see if I should grab some of the '15.) At that time, the wine was pretty tight, ungiving, but dense, seemed to have potential, and most important of all showed no flaws. Went back to the bottle today, pulled the cork, and immediately get an off smell, somewhat in the acetate zone. I poured a small glass and tasted and it was not drinkable, acrid–still burning my tongue a bit in fact. Under closer examination it turned out there was a great deal of fine sediment distributed through the wine, almost like older Barolo. Even after filtration, it did not all disappear and the wine remained tainted. Obviously, I am reluctant to blame the wine/winemakers, since it was not there on the original pour. On the other hand, I am quite curious as to what could have happened. Many of you are more savvy than me about the chemistry of wine, so I very much welcome your thoughts.

Not sure about the wine…but I am not so sold on keeping post-coravin bottles for very long. I do not think they keep. I think the Coravin is great for a short period of time, say, if you want to pull a glass a few times over a course of a week. But months? No. My forst experience with this was a premium wine at the tasting bar at Gary’s in NJ, where I was a regular visitor for a period of time. I kept going back and trying that bottle. It changed noticeably despite the advocacy from the store. Finally, after it was open for about 6 weeks, I cajoled one of their knowledgeable tasters into trying it, and they trashed the remaining ~ half bottle. I have a coravin at home, and use it for small pours only and only over a short period of time.

I hear you, Jim,
And I, too, don’t use for great amounts of time. In the past, this sort of range has not been a problem.

No insight to your issue with the Coravin but tasted with Rob today at the vineyard. The 2016 is lovely, maybe his best wine thus far. Hope you have good experiences with future bottles.

Never had this problem, the most I have ever gone is about 3 months and 3 entries. Sometimes the wine will change a little, but I’ve never had it go bad and certainly not like you’re describing. This sounds kind of like when I was in school doing lab work and my cell culture broth would get contaminated with bacteria.

Seems that somehow this wine was tainted by Coravin. I have been told that some people blow into the needle to clear of any residual wine after use. Maybe a microbe of saliva or other foreign substance that the needle may have come into contact with is the culprit.

I’ve had several instances where coravining a wine has changed it down the road. Not sure why or how it happens but any time I coravin a bottle and then wait more than a month to open it, it is different than the first glass. I do make sure to clear the needle before putting it in the bottle each time so my thought is that it just is something that happens.

I rinse the needle inside and out with a couple of drops of grain alcohol before using it, don’t know if it’s necessary to do this.

Mike,
I also had this suspicion. Thanks for confirming–probably the best working hypothesis we’ve got.

Imagine pricking a Lafite or Mouton cork this week and revisiting in a decade. Not a risk I would be willing to take.

Wonderful short term tool. Can’t imagine placing a bottle back into the cellar for the longer run. My Coravined bottles stay on counter and are gone with 2 weeks or less. Last nights 2008 Jones Sisters is still fresh after a week.

It sounds like some bacteria and/or oxygen got in there. 6 months is way too long for Coravin. Some bottles will be fine after that time, but many will not, in my experience.