Coravin, the wine friend

Interview with Greg Lambrecht

Gault&Millau: How did the Coravin saga begin?

Greg Lambrecht: I fell in love with wine when I wasn't even allowed to! I was 16, but I looked 21, the legal drinking age in the United States. It was a Napa Valley Cabernet that I loved from the very first sip. I was fascinated by the process that makes wine, the transformation from the grape to the taste in the glass. At university, I drank my first Burgundy white: a Chablis from William Fèvre, widely available in America. Another revelation. This passion has never left me, I want to taste everything! At one point, I thought of a device that would allow me to open a bottle without having to finish it. I used medical techniques - my first profession, which still keeps me busy - and adapted them to wine! Hence the use of the needle to pierce the cork. I perfected the prototype of my first Coravin back in 1999. I could drink a glass of Burgundy or Châteauneuf-du-Pape whenever I wanted, while keeping the bottles for months.

G&M: When did you realize you were going to develop a range and turn it into a business?

G. L.: I founded the company in 2011, launched Coravin in the United States in 2013, in Europe in 2014, and in Asia in 2015! It all happened very quickly, but it took a long time to get to this point. I tested prototypes for many years, first with friends; I wanted to make sure it worked and make it as easy to use as possible. Then I wanted to convince the professionals: I remember an importer from Boston, where I live, to whom I gave a demonstration. He smiled at me and said he'd love to knock me out and steal my invention! It was new, and above all, it made sense. It's a bit like in medicine: we wonder how many lives we can influence, so why not wine too?

G&M: Who were your first customers, and who are they today?

G. L.: Coravin is changing the way wine is consumed. I had to convince people, and the wine world is a pyramid: the winemaker is at the top, and if he doesn't believe in it... So, for each country launch, I started with the producers: Napa and Oregon in the United States, Burgundy and Bordeaux in France, Rioja in Spain, Piedmont in Italy, Rheingau in Germany... Then came the restaurants, because sommeliers listen to the producers. And finally, wine lovers. When we've been in a country for a long time, the main customer becomes the private individual.

G&M: Were some countries harder to convince than others?

G. L.: I understood how a nation thinks through its response to Coravin! Wine culture is relatively similar around the world, even if it may seem surprising: people drink the same way in Shanghai as they do in London. France, on the other hand, is not a single country, it's the sum of four or five different mentalities: Burgundy, Bordeaux, Paris... The Burgundians accepted Coravin right away, while the Bordelais wondered who I was and whether Coravin would lead to a drop in wine sales...

G&M: How many Coravins do you sell each year?

G. L.: We don't give a global figure, but it's in the millions. Today, we are present in 60 countries. And every product has a serial number, so you can add it up!

G&M: Since the end of last year, you've extended your range with a Coravin dedicated to champagne...

G. L.: The challenge was to replace the cork, since you have to uncork the bottle, and to compensate for the carbon dioxide after opening. I thought about it for eight years! Then I tested prototypes with the Moët Hennessy houses. The Coravin Sparkling consists of a cylinder adapted to each neck and a gas refill: it's very simple. At home, I have six champagnes in the fridge, and I can drink a different glass every evening, safe in the knowledge that the last glass in the bottle will be the same as the first.

G&M: What's the next innovation you're working on?

G. L.: Coravin's mission is to extend the possibilities for serving, tasting and storing wine. I can't tell you what it is, but the next product should be an even bigger change than the very first Coravin. It will use the same technologies we've developed, yet be completely different. See you in 2023...

Gault&Millau test

Let's skip the joke about the little spoon in the neck to "preserve" an already-opened bottle of champagne. There are a multitude of mechanical corks available for sparkling wines, all of which hermetically seal the bottle. We've drawn up a comparison between this "classic" type of cork and Coravin's dedicated system, which protects opened champagne by injecting CO2 into the bottle. Thanks to a special cork fitted with a valve and a pistol-shaped gas cap, this re-injected CO2 replenishes the pressure in the bottle to the same level as before opening. The champagne is thus protected and its bubbles maintained.

We uncorked two bottles of the same wine: Cuvée "Chloé", by Vincent Couche, the emblematic winemaker of the Côte des Bars. After puncturing each bottle with half a glass, one was recorked with a classic cork, the other with a Coravin. And we repeated the experiment every week for over a month, tasting just one glass of each bottle in parallel.

On this sulfur-free cuvée, a 6-year old soléra made from pinots noirs from Buxeuil and chardonnays from Montgueux, the results were clear. In the first two weeks, the differences are most apparent on opening: the wine protected by Coravin seems fresher, a little less fermentative in approach, but it should be noted that the differences fade after 30 seconds in the glass. This freshness is mainly olfactory. On the palate, the two bottles are almost identical after eight days.

The more the weeks go by, the greater the difference in olfactory freshness. The first declines slowly, the second remains identical.

They also differ in terms of bubbles, with a clear advantage for Coravin, which preserves its effervescence almost intact. This is quite logical, since the repeated opening and closing of the bottle causes the gas in the "classic" bottle to escape. As for flavors on the palate, while the "Coravin" bottle preserves them better, it has to be said that the difference is quite subtle and undoubtedly linked to the winemaker's type of sulfur-free wine. Specifically, these wines need the oxygen they were deprived of during vinification in order to fully reveal themselves.

After five weeks and as many openings, the difference is obvious, especially as the bottle is gradually emptied. In the test sample, there were no bubbles at all; the wine had become champagne. On the Coravin side, on the other hand, the foam when served and the bubbles in the mouth are still present and fresh, even if less intense than initially.

Conclusion

If you consume your champagne twice, a week apart, the Coravin doesn't seem to make a significant difference. On the other hand, the test shows that when opened regularly, served by the glass and repeated over the medium to long term, Coravin preserves the wine's freshness. So don't hesitate to give the champagne a few minutes to "come to its senses".

Wine tasted: Domaine Vincent Couche

Cuvée "Chloé

Produced from a soléra of 2016 to 2011 renewed by quarters, in which the addition of wines from the youngest to the oldest allows the balance between freshness and complexity, this champagne is perfectly successful. On the nose, notes of fermentation appear on opening, followed by smoky, fresh grape notes, and vanilla and salted butter caramel after aeration. The whole presents a superb nose, complex and devilishly natural. On the palate, the wine is of rare finesse. The bubbles are meticulous, but the champagne offers a rare and delicious energy.

https:// vincent-couche.com/vignoble/champagne/buxeuil-cote-des-bar/chloe.html