Thanks for a great product instruction video, however a couple of questions, how does the Coravin cope with old corks, I'm talking about corks anything from 15 to 39/40 years old? Secondly how does it cope with older reds that have sediment? wouldnt that block the needle? It obviously works beautifully with young wine, but its ability to handle older wines that I'm interested in. All help gladly reveived.
Great question! Coravin actually has a specialized needle for this purpose, their Timeless Vintage needle: geni.us/Yj9cNJX [Amazon Affiliate Product Link] and it has a thinner diameter for gentler insertion into fragile or brittle corks. The inventor of Coravin actually has a great video here: bit.ly/3v6SwiV that covers usage with vintage wines with sediment (starts around 1:51). Basically, his advice is to extract the wine while the bottle is on its side (assuming it's been properly stored this way) without disturbing the sediment.
Every time you dispense the wine, naturally the pressure is let out. So you're never really building a ton of pressure in there, just enough with one or two quick bursts to push some of the wine out, then the pressure is released as the liquid level inside goes down and it goes back to equilibrium.
Hi Tymothi. The needle on the Coravin is 2.5 inches long and a standard #9 wine cork length is 1.5 inches. When the Coravin is properly attached to a bottle, the needle should clear the base of the cork with plenty of room to spare but won't extend past the neck of the bottle. As long as when you serve, you keep the bottle tilted so there is always wine in the bottle neck (see 2:52) the needle will remain submerged and the pressure from the gas will force the wine through the needle for dispensing. Wine cannot be served from a Coravined bottle when held upright. For serving the last/final glass of wine in a Coravined bottle, the recommendation is to simply remove the cork and pour as usual, since there's no point in injecting additional argon into the bottle to serve via the Coravin as the gas is not going to be used for preservation purposes (after the last glass is poured, the bottle will be empty!).
Once you put the argon cartridge in the coravin, you dont take it out until there is no more gas left in? So you dont put it in and take it out constantly?
Correct. Once the cartridge is pierced, it should not be removed from the device, as this would allow all the gas to escape. It should be left in the device for use until the cartridge is empty.
The screw top attachment replaces the bottle's original cap. You take off the original cap and immediately replace it with the Coravin cap -- this is the only moment that air touches your wine. Then the Coravin cap allows the needle to get through and do its business.
Big, full bodied reds and wines that have sediment can definitely benefit from being aeration and decanting, but any wine will go bad faster if exposed to oxygen. The Coravin is meant to preserve wines so that you can enjoy them for years. Say you have a $100+ bottle of wine. Do you really want to drink $100 in one sitting? Maybe, but you don't have to with the Coravin. Every glass will take like the first glass!
When wine is in contact with air for an extended period the alcohol reacts with the oxygen in the air to produce vinegar. This is a bad thing. When a glass of wine is poured from a bottle immediately after the cork is removed there can be some residual features which can benefit from brief contact with air. These can be a) temperature, b) sulphite odour, c) mustiness in older bottles. This is why people usually open bottles of red wine 30 mins or so before drinking and wines "open up in the glass". (Decanting is usually because there is residue in the bottom of the bottle or for presentation; but yes it aeriates too). Of course wines (particularly whites) can have pleasant unstable aromatics which evaporate quite quickly and this is why whites are seldom aeriated and never decanted. Although obviously if you drink the bottle slowly some interaction with the environment is to be expected. It's one of the reasons the first sniff and mouthful can have more floral notes. The Coravin makes every glass come out like the cork was never even taken out of the bottle. A bit of urgent aeration is required for the red if you want to drink it straight away!
It actually works pretty well from a utility standpoint. Is it a "delicate" tool? Perhaps. Not that I'm throwing it around or traveling with it. Guess that's why they try to sell you on a $40 carrying case.
![Coravin how to’s, tips and what to avoid [ Angie Somm ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mYRvKj5gsHY/mqdefault.jpg)
This is the best review out on UA-cam.
This video was much better than the opening/starting instructions provided by Coravin. They should hire you!
Lol, I'd love to be a professional wine accessory tester/ambassador, hahaha.
Thank you so much for you thoroughly explanation!!
Very thorough - thank you.
I’ve asked Santa for one!
Can you travel on a plane with the argon gas capsules?
Thank you very much for this useful, informative & well made video 👌
My pleasure 😊
Good job with this introduction video 👍
Thanks!
Wow. Thank you for the thorough instructions!
You bet!
Thanks for a great product instruction video, however a couple of questions, how does the Coravin cope with old corks, I'm talking about corks anything from 15 to 39/40 years old? Secondly how does it cope with older reds that have sediment? wouldnt that block the needle? It obviously works beautifully with young wine, but its ability to handle older wines that I'm interested in. All help gladly reveived.
Great question! Coravin actually has a specialized needle for this purpose, their Timeless Vintage needle: geni.us/Yj9cNJX [Amazon Affiliate Product Link] and it has a thinner diameter for gentler insertion into fragile or brittle corks. The inventor of Coravin actually has a great video here: bit.ly/3v6SwiV that covers usage with vintage wines with sediment (starts around 1:51). Basically, his advice is to extract the wine while the bottle is on its side (assuming it's been properly stored this way) without disturbing the sediment.
How come the bottle doesn't explode after a few uses, I. e. The increased pressure that's been introduced?
Every time you dispense the wine, naturally the pressure is let out. So you're never really building a ton of pressure in there, just enough with one or two quick bursts to push some of the wine out, then the pressure is released as the liquid level inside goes down and it goes back to equilibrium.
How to check if argor gas capsule is empty? Or how much gas is left?
You can't really "check." When you go to use it and it simply won't inject any gas, then it's empty.
I noticed the device has a short needle. How do I ensure that the bottle is fully depleted of wine being the the device’s needle is short?
Hi Tymothi. The needle on the Coravin is 2.5 inches long and a standard #9 wine cork length is 1.5 inches. When the Coravin is properly attached to a bottle, the needle should clear the base of the cork with plenty of room to spare but won't extend past the neck of the bottle. As long as when you serve, you keep the bottle tilted so there is always wine in the bottle neck (see 2:52) the needle will remain submerged and the pressure from the gas will force the wine through the needle for dispensing. Wine cannot be served from a Coravined bottle when held upright. For serving the last/final glass of wine in a Coravined bottle, the recommendation is to simply remove the cork and pour as usual, since there's no point in injecting additional argon into the bottle to serve via the Coravin as the gas is not going to be used for preservation purposes (after the last glass is poured, the bottle will be empty!).
Once you put the argon cartridge in the coravin, you dont take it out until there is no more gas left in? So you dont put it in and take it out constantly?
Correct. Once the cartridge is pierced, it should not be removed from the device, as this would allow all the gas to escape. It should be left in the device for use until the cartridge is empty.
@@ReviewedByPhil Thank you
why would you need this for a screw top, instead of just putting the screw top back on?
Because using this device puts the inert gas argon, not air, in the bottle, so it doesn’t go off.
The screw top attachment replaces the bottle's original cap. You take off the original cap and immediately replace it with the Coravin cap -- this is the only moment that air touches your wine. Then the Coravin cap allows the needle to get through and do its business.
I don't understand. Some people want decanters and aerators to add air, others want to keep any oxygen from hitting it. What's what?
Big, full bodied reds and wines that have sediment can definitely benefit from being aeration and decanting, but any wine will go bad faster if exposed to oxygen. The Coravin is meant to preserve wines so that you can enjoy them for years. Say you have a $100+ bottle of wine. Do you really want to drink $100 in one sitting? Maybe, but you don't have to with the Coravin. Every glass will take like the first glass!
When wine is in contact with air for an extended period the alcohol reacts with the oxygen in the air to produce vinegar. This is a bad thing.
When a glass of wine is poured from a bottle immediately after the cork is removed there can be some residual features which can benefit from brief contact with air. These can be a) temperature, b) sulphite odour, c) mustiness in older bottles.
This is why people usually open bottles of red wine 30 mins or so before drinking and wines "open up in the glass". (Decanting is usually because there is residue in the bottom of the bottle or for presentation; but yes it aeriates too).
Of course wines (particularly whites) can have pleasant unstable aromatics which evaporate quite quickly and this is why whites are seldom aeriated and never decanted. Although obviously if you drink the bottle slowly some interaction with the environment is to be expected. It's one of the reasons the first sniff and mouthful can have more floral notes.
The Coravin makes every glass come out like the cork was never even taken out of the bottle. A bit of urgent aeration is required for the red if you want to drink it straight away!
How can you tell when the capsules are empty?
Gas will no longer exit out the needle when you press the thumb trigger.
That looks extremely fiddly
It actually works pretty well from a utility standpoint. Is it a "delicate" tool? Perhaps. Not that I'm throwing it around or traveling with it. Guess that's why they try to sell you on a $40 carrying case.