Reading · MidWeek Wines Guild

‘How do you open a wine bottle without opening it?’

‘How to enjoy a glass of wine without having to finish the bottle’

‘Not sure if a wine is past its sell-by date.’

‘Which wine will complement your meal?’

Read on to find answers to all of these dilemmas.

The Coravin wine preservation system has been on my wine-related wish list for a while.

What stopped me from getting one? Firstly, the price was a concern. Secondly, I wondered if I would use it enough. Also, I questioned what I would actually use it for. Would it be something I enthusiastically used at first, only to end up forgotten in a drawer?

So how did I end up with one?

A few weeks ago, it was my birthday. My daughter and son-in-law came over, and we went to our local pub for a birthday meal. Just before dinner, over drinks, they gave me my card and present. The box was well wrapped, and to be honest, I thought it was a box of chocolates. Imagine my surprise when I opened it and found the Coravin system! I was shocked and immensely grateful. It had always been on my radar, but for the reasons above, I never got around to buying one.

So, what is it?

Simply put, the Coravin is an innovative tool designed to allow wine enthusiasts to enjoy a glass of wine without removing the cork from the bottle. The system works by inserting a medical-grade needle through the cork, creating a small, nearly invisible hole. Once the needle is in place, the device pumps pure argon gas into the bottle. Argon is an inert gas that does not react with the wine. It creates a protective barrier like a pillow, preventing oxygen from coming into contact with the remaining wine.

This method allows the wine to stay fresh for weeks, months, or even years after the bottle has been first opened.

The first bottle I tried it out on was a 2010 Fontanafredda Barolo I’ve had in my rack for a long time now, I was never quite sure when to open it, and I wasn’t sure if it would be still OK, also my wife doesn’t like big wines so there never seemed to be a right time.

I positioned the Coravin over the bottle pressed the trigger quickly to activate the gas, clamped it over the neck and pushed down inserting the needle, tipped the bottle at a 45° angle over the glass pressed the trigger dispensing the required amount.

Gave it a quick sniff and it seemed fine, gave it a sip and it was pretty decent.

There was no need to remove the foil capsule just pushed the needle straight through.

After just pull up the needle, rinse under the tap and then you can replace you bottle in the rack like you’ve never touched it.

Next up was during our Wine Guild Zoom video to celebrate our 50^th Newsletter we each selected something nice to toast our milestone.

Readers may not be surprised I selected a 2020 Ribera Del Duero Tinto Pasquerã, again another one of those wines I never know when to open, this time I didn’t have to, happy days.

This was a fabulous wine but not for the faint hearted at a hefty 15% abv, my kind of wine. I had a glass enjoyed it tremendously and replaced the bottle until the next time.

Still early days but what a fabulous piece of kit this is, not rocket science, not hard to use, and it seems to do exactly what it says on the box.

Pros

Lets you try a wine without opening the bottle. No Waste: You can drink exactly what you want, when you want, revisiting the bottle days, weeks, or even months later.

Worried about a wine that maybe with a taint of some sort, pour yourself a small glass and try.

Want to try different wines on the same day without waste, dinner party etc.

Cons

High up front cost, Argon cylinders pricey.

Doesn’t work very well on synthetic corks or aged bottles with fragile corks.

I don’t know why any wine lover, enthusiast wouldn’t want one, the only thing holding me back was justifying the cost, £200+ but that’s just me.

So it’s a great gadget for me

Can’t thank my daughter and son in law enough for this gift, I’m sure I will sample many glasses of good wine with it and toast them while drinking.

Join Greg Lambrecht, founder and inventor of Coravin, as he explains how the Timeless wine by-the-glass systems works, here.

And listen to Tim Atkin, MW, interview Greg on his podcast here.

I signed up for this Wine Society Cheese & Wine Zoom event. To watch the webinar, or catch up later on their YouTube channel, was free to members. And there were options to buy the selection of 6 cheeses, from The Courtyard Dairy, and some or all of the suggested 4 wines from TWS.

I ordered the cheese selection, and they were delivered, perfectly packed, the day before the event.

Gil’s suggested wines seemed rather funky, and I provisionally decided to purchase the fizz and the Txacoli Rosé (A grape featured in NL 16: by my colleague, Dave). However, I got distracted and forgot to order them in time! So I made do with a few wines from my racks - see later. Following the description and reaction to the recommended wines, I subsequently ordered the Alta Lange Brut and Txacoli wines, and enjoyed both. The Txacoli was of real interest, and was robust enough to stand up to most cheeses.

Shown below is my rather ad-hoc selection of wines.

Sainsbury’s TtD, Discovery No 57, Orange Wine, Jean Claude Mac, 2025, 13%. £11

Secateurs, Chenin Blanc, Badenhorst Family Wines, Swartland, SA 2024, 13%, Wine Society. £14.50

Waitrose Blueprint, Moscatel de Valencia, NV, 15%. £8.75

And on the following day, we finished off the cheeses with:

2024 Moillard Petit Chablis Le Grappes d’Or, 13%, Morrisons, on offer at £6.50 (half bottle)

Andy’s talk was excellent, outlining the resurgence of cheese making, and giving uplifting stories about the featured cheeses and cheese makers. And Gil gave the full background to the wines - which were clearly personal favourites!

Andy Swinscoe, top left, and other featured wine makers

The old established maxim of red wines with cheese, really comes from the days when cheese was usually Cheddar or Stilton. For “summer cheeses”, such as served here, white, rosé or sparkling wines made better matches.

Pairing wines with individual cheeses is down to personal preferences, and shouldn’t be over-thought or made too complicated. So, for these summer cheeses, any wine that you might consider serving with a light lunch, would probably suit. Andy thought that lighter style Rhone whites were safe choices.

In my case the Orange wine, which, slightly to my surprise, I enjoyed, went pretty well with all the cheeses, but the oaked Chenin Blanc, whilst not clashing, was a bit too hefty. But the lovely Petit Chablis, the following day was just perfect!

The quality of the cheeses were high - and interesting styles. The back stories of the makers and details of the sources of milk and the wine making processes added to their enjoyment. I will be signing up for future cheese events.

The cost of the cheeses, with delivery, are somewhat higher than can be bought off the shelf, locally. But in the same way that I sometimes splurge on a super bottle of wine, I have every intention of similarly splurging on Courtyard Dairy cheeses!

The Courtyard Diary has a cheese museum and a café/restaurant as well as the shop. So well worth a visit, if anywhere near. More details here.

Thanks for reading! MidWeek Wines Guild is free to all readers. If you have found something you think others will like, please consider Sharing and/or Liking this Post. It really helps us if you Subscribe, and we also love to read your Comments.

You can contact the Guild on any matter, including making comments, directly, via midweekwinesguild@iCloud.com

NL 60: My CORAVIN Experience ... & Cheese & Wine Pairings

Comments