Currently it seems I am getting >50% failure rate on my usage. For example, my past few wines, Cantemerle 2018, Laroque 2020, Vina Ardanza 2016, DDC 2019, were all severely muted in both nose and mouth. I have researched quite a bit, trying numerous methods to help, including purging the needle, making sure it stands upright for a while before restoring the bottle. All the bottles above are of <1 glass extractions. Why is this so? Is it because the headspace that causes the volatile aromas to escape?
To give a bit more context, currently drinking my second pour of Vina Ardanza 2016.
First pour: Garnet coloured with generous nose of figs, vanilla, caramel, and oak Tannins are pretty polished with nice acidity. This is medium bodied with some tertiary notes. Primarily red fruits, with a touch of caramel, notes of leather and earth however a little short on the finish. 14.5 ABV but absolutely no heat and wears it well. This is a lovely, lovely wine that is intense, complex, and will continue to age.
Second pour: Rubbing alcohol on the nose and elevated levels of acidity. (Not volatile acidity for sure)
First pour is absolutely gorgeous, it’s always the second pour, even within short intervals like <1 week.
Every second pour feels like a $10 wine with no nuance or characteristics, all it has is alcohol, acidity and some berry fruit. Honestly the difference is like a 80-90% dropoff from the first pour
Was thinking the argon dissolved in the wine, thus affecting the flavour, so I tried the mollydooker shake before coravin-ing but doesn’t seem to work as well.
I’ve emailed coravin for a solution, but honestly my conclusion is its a faulty unit
The claim is that argon is not soluble in wine, which I have long wondered whether true or not. Non-reactive, sure. Perhaps some chemists have a definitive answer on this.
I follow the steps to cleaning and using the coravin religiously, read pretty much most of the threads here… So I really think I am not doing anything wrong.
what is the warranty period? I found my coravin (forget the model, maybe ~4-5 years old) is good for about half a bottle but when I get down to the last 2-3 glasses I just pop the cork and finish it off. I had maybe 1 noticeably bad experience with a few dozen good ones so I’ll put that on user error somehow.
I am not 100% familiar with those wines - are they under Diam, natural cork, or are you using the screwtop/coravin add on?
yeah I was going to say it is mixed results with DIAM
if you have a year warranty, no harm in trading it in and trying again with a new model as it is very likely not returnable at this point.
A follow up question I have is now that they still different needles. Are you getting the thinnest needles so they leave less of a hole? The thicker ones for a faster pour I probably would steer clear of.
The question I have for the OP is: how long have these wines been under Coravin? My sense from this board and also my own experience–I’m on my second and have used nearly since inception–it is the Coravin works (best) for shorter term storage, if you have a bottle you only want a glass or two one night and intend to get back to within a month. I think this is what @EricZ describes.
I’m not saying it does not work longer term; it has for me. But at that point the fail rate may well start to increase.
I use the Coravin weekly for years since none of my friends like wine, and I tend to consume only moderately. I can’t say I’ve experienced this, but I’m curious how long were the wines were stored after the initial Coravin application.
What’s the temperature of your cellar/fridge? I often find the aromas are muted when the wine is cool, but within 10-15min things can change dramatically. Thats not exclusive to coravin, of course.