Coravin wines!

  • 1976 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (8/30/2013)
    Coravin 8/30/13. From a 375. Dark orange color; burnt caramel, slightly copper/metallic but not distracting, dried apricot fruit; palate has nice balance of sweetness headed towards dry, burnt apricot, midpalate has fantastic acidity, palate is somewhat simpler than the nose (which is very complex) but still excellent, some citrus fruit; finish is medium, excellent, clean finish. Long life ahead, absolutely lovely each time I’ve had this. 93 (93 pts.)
  • 2002 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (8/30/2013)
    Coravin 8/30. Medium-deep golden color; nose of butter, white fruits; palate is full bodied with great acidity, pretty good remaining white fruit; finish is medium length. This is a very nice white burgundy, great balance, great acid, nice maturity, ready to drink now. A buy. 91 (91 pts.)
  • 1997 Argiano Brunello di Montalcino - Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino (8/29/2013)
    Coravin 8/29/13. Medium ruby color with little bricking; prominent nose with red fruit, bright, slight earth with a fairly strong decomposing quality (little too much for me, and I like this stuff); palate has medium body, integrated tannins still providing structure, great midpalate acidity, still enough fruit to balance out the structure; finish is medium length, slightly short on fruit compared to residual tannins. A fairly decent wine, but doesn’t live up to its reputation or price point so I would pass on buying. I like it slightly less now than at my last trial in 2011, and I would drink up soon as it’s not likely to improve. 90-
    Coravin 8/30/13: Spot-on exactly like yesterday, starting at first pop-and-pour state and progressing through the exact same decomposing fruit phases over 30-60 minutes. Very exciting, since usually wines have degraded at least a bit by day 2. Still 1/2 bottle remaining. (90 pts.)
  • 1997 Stefano Farina Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (8/29/2013)
    Coravin 8/29/13 (my first bottle!). Color is medium ruby with only slight bricking; nose is surprisingly subtle with red fruit, slight roses, more tar showing with air; palate is medium bodied, fairly woody, red fruit is modern, slightly sweet/alcoholic, very simple midpalate, smooth texture, slightly bitter; finish is simple, slightly sweet red fruit, slightly bitter finish. Overall a disappointment for Barolo. Would not recommend to purchase, uncertain whether this will improve. A food wine, since that may cover up some of its faults and its acid is decent. 85 (85 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I suppose none of this is too exciting for anyone as a Coravin data point so far, but I’m having a lot of fun with this. It certainly gives me far more opportunity to taste what I want to taste. Two of us tonight had a white burgundy, a brunello, and an aged sauternes and in total drank only about ~500-600 mL of wine. Normally two of us would have had to pick a single bottle, stick with it for the entire evening, and then drink more than we really wanted to so that we could finish the bottle.

The only bottle that I’ve revisited so far is the brunello, but only on day 2. No noticeable difference from day 1 at all. I will report back, and may actually post most of my Coravin notes/experiments in this thread over the short term if I get time.

Here are some updates on wines that I’ve Coravined over the last month.

  • 2003 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (9/28/2013)
    Coravin 9/28/13: One glass removed. Color is deep ruby, very minor appropriate bricking; nose of red fruit, black fruit, wood, underlying sweet fruit comes out with air, black currant, slight mint, very bordeaux-styled nose; palate is full bodied, black fruit, dense midpalate, tannins are smooth but prominent and youthful, not rough at all, huge structure, fabulous acidity that gives it a freshness, no heat at all; finish is medium-long length, good fruit. Based on this initial taste, this is a very young, fabulously balanced bordeaux, ripe (2003 character), but not at all overripe, recognizably left bank bordeaux (though still looking for St. Julien minerality, which I hope it will pick up as the fruit recedes), without any secondary development whatsoever. Will reassess after a bit of air, but I think this wine has at least decade to go before peak drinkability and a life much longer than that. 93-96++ (difficult to assess but large upside potential)
    Update: 90 min air- nose is even more expressive with green vegetal notes, asparagus, mint, fresh, palate is similar to initial impression. This is a superb wine but very young. Glad I tried one now, but my next bottle will wait at least 5 years, probably longer. 95-96++ (95 pts.)
  • 1976 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (8/30/2013)
    Coravin 8/30/13. From a 375. Dark orange color (darker than expected for age, but consistent with this particular vintage/producer); burnt caramel, slightly copper/metallic but not distracting, dried apricot fruit; palate has nice balance of sweetness headed towards dry, burnt apricot, midpalate has fantastic acidity, palate is somewhat simpler than the nose (which is very complex) but still excellent, some citrus fruit; finish is medium, excellent, clean finish. Long life ahead, absolutely lovely each time I’ve had this. 93
    Coravin 9/11/13: Fresh, unchanged impression from my previous note. Great wine.
    Coravin 9/25/13: Unchanged. Still superb. Just a tiny bit left (~2oz), so if there is any oxygen in the half, it will oxidize quickly… (93 pts.)
  • 2002 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (8/30/2013)
    Coravin 8/30. Medium-deep golden color; nose of butter, white fruits; palate is full bodied with great acidity, pretty good remaining white fruit; finish is medium length. This is a very nice white burgundy, great balance, great acid, nice maturity, ready to drink now. A buy. 91
    9/26/13: Small amount of leakage on top of the bottle from the initial puncture site. Wine is still enjoyable, not oxidized, maybe a tiny bit changed but similar to initial glass. (91 pts.)
  • 1997 Argiano Brunello di Montalcino - Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino (8/29/2013)
    Coravin 8/29/13. Medium ruby color with little bricking; prominent nose with red fruit, bright, slight earth with a fairly strong decomposing quality (little too much for me, and I like this stuff); palate has medium body, integrated tannins still providing structure, great midpalate acidity, still enough fruit to balance out the structure; finish is medium length, slightly short on fruit compared to residual tannins. A fairly decent wine, but doesn’t live up to its reputation or price point so I would pass on buying. I like it slightly less now than at my last trial in 2011, and I would drink up soon as it’s not likely to improve. 90-
    Coravin 8/30/13: Spot-on exactly like yesterday, starting at first pop-and-pour state and progressing through the exact same decomposing fruit phases over 30-60 minutes. Very exciting, since usually wines have degraded at least a bit by day 2. Still 1/2 bottle remaining.
    9/10/13: Half bottle remaining when opened. Still nice, but not exactly the same. Not clearly oxidized, but doesn’t have the funk that it did earlier and didn’t develop in the same way. Difficult to assess what kind of change the Coravin had, but there appears to have been at least a small change. Will need to run some experiments with double bottles so that I can taste blind side by side. (90 pts.)
  • 1997 Stefano Farina Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (8/29/2013)
    Coravin 8/29/13 (my first bottle!). Color is medium ruby with only slight bricking; nose is surprisingly subtle with red fruit, slight roses, more tar showing with air; palate is medium bodied, fairly woody, red fruit is modern, slightly sweet/alcoholic, very simple midpalate, smooth texture, slightly bitter; finish is simple, slightly sweet red fruit, slightly bitter finish. Overall a disappointment for Barolo. Would not recommend to purchase, uncertain whether this will improve. A food wine, since that may cover up some of its faults and its acid is decent. 85
    9/2: Retasted. Agree with prior impression, still simple for a barolo, maybe a tad more fruity and less alcoholic than my first impression. Went well with pizza. A good food wine. Half bottle left. 85-86
    9/3: Similar to last time. 85.
    9/10: Less than quarter bottle left, finished it. Not oxidized at all, very similar to previous notes. If anything, the red fruit is even a little better than before. 85-86. (85 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

How are you liking the Coravin?

My business partner grabbed one and I was a skeptic until he had about a half dozen wines “open” from it that ranged from a few days to weeks that were drinking like they first day wines. Man it’s pricey though. But I think with people with a large older cellar it would pay for itself in bottles enjoyed in no time.

Please post your experiments, would love to hear what you have to say.

I like the Coravin quite a bit. I think for 2-4 weeks, it does a fabulous job. I’ve had somewhat less success with wines at the month mark… they tend to taste a little oxidized at that point. And occasionally, I’ll get a bottle that leaks. (The Deleger white burgundy above definitely had a bit of leakage around the cork when I cut the foil off.

After a month and a half of using it, it’s absolutely worth the investment. It makes it far easier for me to pair wine to food, to open nice bottles, and to prevent wasting wine. I do have to be careful not to get a bit too over enthusiastic and open too many bottles at once… I’m trying to finish them within about 2-3 weeks at most now.

I’m keeping my Coravin notes all in cellartracker, and I’m updating the original note when I re-access a bottle. So if you see my notes above (and follow them to cellartracker for some that have been updated more recently), you can see multiple notes from multiple accesses into the same bottle. Generally the device has done quite well. Some wines (especially reds) have shown no change. Others (some whites) have shown no change to mild change in the short term with more noticeable changes after a few weeks.

More recent Coravin notes:

  • 1996 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley (10/5/2013)
    Coravin 10/5: Half bottle taken out. Color is deep ruby-purple with very slight bricking appropriate for age for Cali cab; nose shows black fruit, moderate intensity, black currant, lots of complexity, subtle forest floor, slight green (eucalyptus) that gives it freshness; palate is full bodied, still quite structured with present tannins, not drying, black fruit, midpalate fades just a tad; finish is medium length. Overall a fantastically balanced well aged classically styled California cab, even a tad young, quite elegant and complex on the nose and just a tad brawny on the palate. Excellent experience, still likely has >10 years left. 94-95
    Update: 60 min air- more eucalyptus on nose, palate has also fleshed out a bit more and has more green complexity. Wonderful wine. 95
    Update: 2 hours in- Superb! Wonderful nose with tons of complexity, palate has fleshed out as well. Truly superb! 95++ (95 pts.)
  • 2003 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (9/28/2013)
    Coravin 9/28/13: One glass removed. Color is deep ruby, very minor appropriate bricking; nose of red fruit, black fruit, wood, underlying sweet fruit comes out with air, black currant, slight mint, very bordeaux-styled nose; palate is full bodied, black fruit, dense midpalate, tannins are smooth but prominent and youthful, not rough at all, huge structure, fabulous acidity that gives it a freshness, no heat at all; finish is medium-long length, good fruit. Based on this initial taste, this is a very young, fabulously balanced bordeaux, ripe (2003 character), but not at all overripe, recognizably left bank bordeaux (though still looking for St. Julien minerality, which I hope it will pick up as the fruit recedes), without any secondary development whatsoever. Will reassess after a bit of air, but I think this wine has at least decade to go before peak drinkability and a life much longer than that. 93-96++ (difficult to assess but large upside potential)
    Update: 90 min air- nose is even more expressive with green vegetal notes, asparagus, mint, fresh, palate is similar to initial impression. This is a superb wine but very young. Glad I tried one now, but my next bottle will wait at least 5 years, probably longer. 95-96++
    Coravin 10/4: Similar to initial note. Still very young, dense. Palate has a streak of minerality through it now. (95 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker