Appreciate all the suggestions, most of which I already follow. To be clear, I’ve had my Coravin for 6+ years and have used it on probably a 100+ bottles. I think my success rate with freshly preserving bottles is probably >70% (tasting 2-4 weeks after first glass), but it’s the other 30% that’s starting to get on my nerves. Especially when all the hype when the product was introduced revolved around being able to keep bottles for months or years after taking a couple of glasses out. Didn’t Parker even test this?
Anyway, I never use it on old bottles, and in fact its main use right now is to taste young wines to see if they are ready to open. Problem is that if they don’t taste ready, then I’m at risk that I just ruined them. Or I use it to split a bottle over ~1 week.
I agree with Charlie though: might as well switch to storing in little bottles. But the point of the Coravin was to not introduce oxygen in order to preserve the current state of the wine. Just not sure that’s realistic in 100% of the cases.
But wasn’t the promise that you could keep a bottle for months? If it’s just about keeping a bottle for a week, then transferring the wine to 5 oz screw cap bottles should work just fine, and then you don’t have to pay for argon.
No, I do what you suggest at times and it’s not as fresh. Might not matter on some reds , but noticeable on whites as well as reds that dont need a long decant.
A little too soon to state for sure, but I think Repour works as well as the transfer or better. Need to do a side by side.
Forgot about repour. $120 for a 72 pack on amazon. Seems equivalent to argon capsule cost. Any info on if repour can preserve for longer than a few weeks?
I’ve had very good results with the Coravin, mostly camping wines under 10 y/o and drinking within a few months. Definitely no noticeable changes in wines in that scenario. Older bottles or longer term give mixed results. I’ve one young bottle ('14) last 2 years and be fine or even better when I opened up the bottle. I’ve had an older bottle ('04) go bad after about a year. Had it in my “to-drink” rack and just never opened it up, dumb.
On the Pungo I have had mine for probably 5 years so I have opened maybe a thousand bottles. I do open mainly older bottles so many are 15+ years or older. So that means I do get the occasional leakage (old corks) that maybe is what Jay describes. In those few cases wine can slip up around a weak cork (between bottle and cork usually) due to the poor old cork seal. If so it is generally a few drop per glass pour. Maybe this is what Jay describes. I used to twist my Pungo thru the cork sometimes and that is a no no which can cause it to leak around the needle. As their video shows it needs to go straight in. There are also little caps they now send which can address if your cork is bad (as I mention above) and it forms an extra seal at the bottle lip. It works great but does not fit many of my bottles.
Lastly I have no idea how one gets significant spray. When I remove the Pungo (or the stopper) a tiny bit can come out the top from a little pressure but it is easy to just put you hand/finger over the hole just in case. If so it is a tiny amount.
I am a very happy customer as the ease of use is great, manufacturing quality is top notch, and lastly service is wonderful. I guess the ultimate positive feedback is I bought one for my dad for this Xmas.
For those that have a Pungo, how many bottles can you go through on one cartridge?
Mine never seems to have made it through 3 bottles. I have sent it back to Pungo multiple times and their attempts to fix it did not help.
Other than that I like it.
I think I get at least 4 bottles per cartridge with the Pungo. I do gently pull and release the trigger as instructed. I also usually pull the pungo out when I am down to my last glass and just pull the cork out and go old school.
Usually my wife and I have 1/2 bottle and then a few days later I full put the Pungo and have the other 1/2 bottle.
I am going to keep track on my next cartridge to see what I really get.
I don’t understand why leakage would ever be a problem – why put the wine bottle back on its side after its been Coravined? Wine bottles can stand upright for weeks and months (probably years in the case of some of my bottles) without any problems, in my experience.
I’m looking at the 2019 Coravin Model Two Wine System from wineaccess.com.
Can I leave the Coravin attached to the bottle after use or it is suggested I remove it?
Do these work well with sparkling wines?
Just a quick note that you actually can use generic cartridges on the Coravin. Soak a Coravin cartridge in acetone overnight so that you can twist off the black capsule on top. Buy THREADED generic argon cartridges, screw on the black capsule, and you’re good to go!
I can’t speak to Coravin’s customer service…but that’s only because I’ve never needed it over the 6+ years that I’ve owned/used mine regularly. #NoIssues. If used properly, imho, its a great tool and a total game changer.