16 Feb 2016 Coravin sticks it to the wine cork

Every year, Fast Company, the trend-setting/following magazine and website, publishes an annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. There is one interesting beverage-related company on the 2016 role of honour, Coravin, a company in Massachussets, that allows users to pour and enjoy wine from their favourite bottles without pulling the cork.

Here is Fast Company’s citation on Coravin:

Raise your hand if you’ve passed on a much-needed glass of wine because you didn’t think you could finish the bottle before it went south. Well, now you can raise a glass to Coravin, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based company that makes a device that lets you sip without opening the bottle.

It’s not sci-fi: The device uses a thin needle to pierce the cork and simultaneously draw out wine and pump in argon gas to prevent oxidation. Natural cork is self-healing (it doesn’t work with synthetic corks).

The company has held blind tastings with the world’s top expert oenophiles and the glasses poured from bottles pierced by Coravin fared identically to those uncorked at the table.

While it’s useful for having a single glass of wine with dinner, the device has really caught fire with serious wine collectors and restaurants, allowing them to sample and pour glasses from rare bottles.

The company has partnered with more than 500 businesses, including Bloomingdale’s, Sur La Table, and Landry’s, to sell high-end vintages by the glass in more than 30 countries. With investment at $41.78 million and counting, Coravin has definitely earned a round.

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