New gadget may interest the trade

The wine coravin: The general consensus among wine experts is that the system works and the ageing of a fine wine is not impacted by the needle access

After working on a trial and error basis for almost 15 years, Helen Coburn explains how inventor Greg Lambrecht succeeded in creating an extremely useful new product

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About 15 years ago, wine buff met nuclear scientist in the person of one Greg Lambrecht. Greg’s wife had just had a baby and was off wine, leaving him with the problem of having to open a whole bottle of wine just for himself, and then leaving a lot of it behind, often to deteriorate over several days. Even when having friends round to dinner, it had often occurred to him that it would be great if one could open several bottles of really good wine, maybe just to have a different type with each course, and then to be able to store the rest where it wouldn’t go off.

So he got to experimenting and because he was worked on trial and error for almost 15 years, we won’t go into the details of that here. But eventually he hit on something: a system whereby wine is extracted, through the cork, by means of a hollow needle. It’s necessary to “purge” the needle of any traces of oxygen by giving it a couple of quick puffs first in the air. A canister of inert argon gas is linked to the mechanism in order to pressurise the wine so that it can be syringed out. After your glass of wine is withdrawn, the cork closes over, leaving the seal intact again. The system only works for natural cork, not plastic or screwcap closures.

The general consensus among wine experts is that the system works and the ageing of a fine wine is not impacted by the needle access. The only real issue is the cost: €299 euro plus the cost of replacement argon canisters which works out at around a euro per glassful withdrawn. That means its use is likely to be confined to professional winetasters who need to taste small quantities at a time and to restaurants who wish to serve high end wine – Chateau d’Yquem, say, or vintage port – by the glass. Others targeted are those who like to collect fine wine and long to sample glasses from time to time as it ages. They’re likely to consider the cost of a Coravin to be worth it. Some top Irish restaurants, including Chapter One, are already experimenting with the device and it is currently being distributed by Findlater.

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