I’ve had many a vintage Madeira open for several weeks.
Would one of you ‘players’ do me a huge favor and help settle a debate going on on another site?
Please remove the Coravin from a bottle with some wine left in it and turn the bottle upside down for a minute or two. I’m watching a debate over whether or not the hole in the cork really seals itself enough so that it won’t leak. (It’d be helpful if you knew what material the cork is made of, but not critical).
Thanks so very much in advance.
First thing I did after removing my first Coravin application. No leak.
I am with K John. Is there any scientific evidence that the cork reseals itself? Seems like there must be some fairly easy way to test this. Are the biggest buyers of the device white Burgundy drinkers with too many bad premox experiences? 
And does this have the potential to destroy the wine auction industry, if most of the wines sold in the future are Coravin rejects, or will it lead to a golden era of auctioneering because the houses can taste and then stand behind virtually every wine they sell? Or, on the other hand, could this technology be adapted to create the golden age of Rudy and Hardy? And how would you feel about buying wines that somebody else had Coravined? More questions than answers, but I will probably buy one and test it on wines that I can afford to lose without shedding tears. I am, not surprisingly, a little suspect when I see that Robert M. Parker, Jr. has declared it to be the wine device of his lifetime, but no doubt he has conducted extensive scientific experiments rather than just shooting from the hip…
does the change to an argon environment affect the way it ages?
Shouldn’t you change the caption on His Holiness’s picture from Georgetown to Dook and/or UNC?
in due time.
Ditto. I’ve tried this on many bottles and also no leaks.
Disclosure: I have a financial interest in Coravin.
Please, out of respect for the ailing (and recent Medal of Freedom winner) Dean Smith, always spell “Duke” in the correct (and disrespectful) fashion, “Dook”. If you hated Georgetown, Dook will be a cakewalk for you! Now back to the regularly scheduled Coravin program…
Peter, I have six bottles now that have been Coravined lying on their sides and none are leaking.
Jeff, is “not leaking” the only relevant consideration here? It is a good thing that the bottles aren’t leaking, and I suppose that more air makes it in around the cork’s perimeter than through the Coravin hole, but I am still wondering about a cork’s ability to re-seal a hole…
Bill, I had planned on drinking all of the bottles that I’m testing within the next year. I’ll be checking in on the whites within a month and the reds a little later down the road. The whites will probably actually be completely consumed within the next 4 months.
Not seeing fluid leak does NOT rule out a persistent hole. Even with a small hole present you will not see a leak due to the surface tension of the liquid as well as a vacuum effect. Air will still get in if the hole does not completely reseal.
What about somewhat dry corks? Would they have the elasticity to reseal well?
I wondered the same - dry corks, and very old, shriveled corks
Exactly - surface tension of a liquid would require pressure from INSIDE the bottle to push the liquid through a small hole
Count me as an old fogey, but something about this doesn’t pass the sniff test. It’s something for nothing. If it doesn’t really work, many bottles will be ruined. If it does really work, how does one trust any bottle one buys?
Well I’ll find out in a month or so when I revisit all these wines…
Meanwhile while my wife is getting ready to go out for dinner, I’m enjoying a glass of '96 Dagueneau Silex. I was worried that it would be OTH, but it’s bright, vibrant of rocking!
This really does interest me very much. I agree it could really hurt the auction market, as I am sure some d*ck will figure out how to pump wine back in the bottle.
I am glad the thread discussed port, as its one of the wines I very often want to open, but not enough for an entire bottle. Coravin could be worth it just for port and stickies, it’d be fantastic for a single glass.
One concern, does pumping in the argon stop the wine from aging? One thought, I would love to pour myself a glass of an '02 Grand Cru Burg, and resist opening most as they have a ways to go until they peak, and it would be great to check in, but not if it stopped the aging.
The hole is pretty obvious that gets stabbed in by the coravin from what I’ve seen. I guess one could put a new foil on it?