When Coravin Founder Greg Lambrecht introduced the original Coravin system over a decade ago, he never anticipated that his ingenious wine preservation device would become the industry's go-to solution for authenticating antique wines.
Few tales in the world of wine are as captivating as the discovery of a long-lost cache of 19th-century bottles hidden beneath the chapel of Becov Castle in the Czech Republic. Armed with a Coravin in hand, Greg carefully sampled 14 bottles from the total of 133 that had lain undisturbed for over a century.
Among the standout bottles were an 1899 Corton Rouge from a producer that no longer exists. which Greg praised as "perfect," and a sublime 1896 Château d'Yquem. Astonishingly, these wines had remained in immaculate condition throughout their long slumber.
It's a testament to the power of the Coravin, a device initially met with scepticism when it was first introduced over a decade ago. Since then, the Coravin has become an indispensable tool for wine professionals and wine lovers, not only for sampling rare and valuable bottles but also for fighting against fraud.
"Fraud normally refers to selling a wine that is not actually that wine. There is not a single published report of Coravin being used in this kind of wine fraud, largely because Coravin is one way – it only takes wine out and cannot put wine back…It's been very important [to me] that Coravin cannot be used for fraud; the theft part is a reality, but I've never seen any other examples of it, so thankfully it is a relatively small risk."
The Becov Castle discovery is just one example of how the Coravin has been used to authenticate historic wines. Auction houses like Hart Davis Hart in the United States and Zachys in Hong Kong have also embraced the device to verify the legitimacy of rare bottles before they go under the hammer.
But the Coravin's usefulness doesn't stop there. Wine producers themselves, including the renowned Château Margaux, have begun using the device to check for cork taint before sending bottles to important events.
"Château Margaux started it and other producers have followed… it's a use of Coravin that I hadn't anticipated"
With tools like the Coravin at our disposal, we can continue to uncover and preserve these liquid time capsules for generations to come.