ZD Wines, home of Abacus (among other things)

One of my favorite wines on the planet is ZDs Abacus so on my recent trip to Napa, I decided to pay a visit to the winery to gain some on-site insight into the facility and its processes. This post is a report on my findings.

ZD Wines is located on Silverado Trail in the lower eastern half of the Rutherford AVA and is bordered by Mumm Napa Valley to the north, Caymus Vineyards to the west, and Beckstoffer to the south. My visit was scheduled for 11:00 am but I got there a little early and was able to roam around on the grounds and survey the beautiful views of the valley afforded by the property.

My group consisted of four people and our host for the visit was Jorge Guzman, Hospitality Lead at ZD Wines. According to Jorge, ZD is the fruit of the dreams of two former aerospace engineers -- Norman de Leuze and Gino Zapponi -- who pooled $3000 each to launch a venture aimed at making wines akin to the famed wines of Burgundy. With grapes purchased from Winery Lake Vineyard in Carneros, the partners produced 300 cases of Pinot Noir and a small amount of Riesling in 1968, their first vintage.

Grapes for ZD wines are sourced from a mix of owned-vineyards and purchased fruit (According to Jorge, fully 60 percent of the grapes utilized in wine production at ZD is purchased fruit.). Grapes for the earliest incarnation of the winery's Pinot Noir were sourced from Winery Lake Vineyard in Carneros, as were the grapes for the earliest Chardonnays. A 33-acre parcel was purchased in Carneros in 1996 and that vineyard is devoted primarily to the production of the Reserve Chardonnay (27 acres). A 6-acre block in the northwest portion of the property has been planted to the Hanzell Pinot Noir clone and is the source for the ZD Founders Reserve wine. Grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon wine is sourced from 3.2 acres of sloping land around the vineyard plus purchased fruit from low-yielding, Napa hillside vineyards.

A number of interesting processes are employed in the cellar.  For example, the Chardonnay grapes are cold-fermented in barrels (using Champagne and Montrachet yeasts) in a long, slow process which imparts a sur lie feel to the completed wine. In order to preserve the wine's characteristics, malolactic fermentation is not allowed. The winery eschews pumping-over for maintenance of skin contact, opting instead for a manual punchdown of the cap using the device depicted below.

The winery's offerings, and associated production processes, are depicted below.

The standout offering from the producer is Abacus, an attempt on the part of the winery to retain the purity of fruit that is associated with young Cabernet Sauvignon wines while also taking advantage of the benefits bestowed by maturity. According to Benjamin Lewin MW, the mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon shows greater purity of fruit in its youth but is linear compared to a Bordeaux blend which exhibits a broader flavor spectrum. But, according to Lewin, it is with age that the differences between the wines really appear. The mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon matures but the purity of fruit of its youth yields to austerity while the blend produces the "savory notes of tertiary development." The ZD team had a similar view and set out to create a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon that would retain that purity of fruit through the ages. They accomplished this goal by blending the 1992-1998 vintages of their Reserve Cab with each vintage contributing 15% of the initial Abacus bottling. The company is on the verge of releasing its 14th bottling of Abacus.

We tasted a few of the wines before, during and after the tour. The Chardonnays were very Burgundian in tone with a richness resulting from the extended cold maceration. These wines were rich, balanced, well-endowed with bright fruit. The 2010 Pinot Noir was reflective of cherry, raspberry, vanilla, and earth on the nose and silky tannins with a long finish on the palate. The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibited licorice, blackberry, and spices on the nose and black fruit and power on the palate.

I enjoyed this visit immensely and can now rest peacefully knowing that I have completed my pilgrimmage to the source -- the source of Abacus.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Improving wine balance with varietal blending

Wine blends are constructs of two or more varietals, and/or micro/macro-climates, and or clones, and/or juice types (press or free-run) that are implemented by the winemaker to, among other reasons, overcome wine deficiencies or defects, improve balance, or enhance complexity. I have previously discussed blending and wine complexity and will cover wine balance and blending in this post.

According to Dr. Bruce Zoecklein, Head of the Enology/Wine Chemistry Group at Virginia Tech, wine can be broken down into the three sensory categories indicated in the table below.

                              Wine Sensory Components

Structure                                  Texture                               Flavor
Sweet                                       Light (delicate)                   Nutty
Acid                                         Rich (dense)                       Earthy
Astringency                                                                         Herbal
Bitterness                                                                            Smoky
                                                                                            Spicy
                                                                                            Berry
                                                                                            Tropical Fruit
                                                                                            Apple*
                                                                                            Citric*
                                                                                            Pear*
* Found mainly in white wines
Source: Derived from Figure 1 of Matching Food and Wine.

As regards the structural components, Dr. Zoecklein argues that a balanced relationship must exist between the tastes of sweetness, on the one hand, and acid, astringency and bitterness on the other, in order to yield the perception of a quality wine to the taster.  The preferred relationship is captured in his Palate Balance Equation (Zoecklein: Components of Red Wine Mouthfeel):

           Sweet ⇄ Acid + Phenolics (Astringency and Bitterness),

where

          Sweet = Carbohydrates + Polysaccharides + Ethanol,
          Acid = Population of organic acids, and
          Phenolics = Skin, seed, and stem phenols + barrel phenols + enological tannins + volatile  phenols.

Based on the foregoing equation, an increase in the sweetness element will lead to a reduction of the taster's perception of acidity and phenolics; and the reverse is also true.  Dr. Zoecklein sees this balance, or harmony, as a key indicator of wine quality and, in that, he is joined by Wines and Vines and Crushpad Blog, among others. According to Chris Stamp, writing in Wines and Vines, "... a balanced wine is a wine in which the various components work together to provide a pleasing taste."  According to Richard Leahy, writing in Crushpad Blog, wines that are in balance tend to stay that way while wines that are out of balance tend to grow moreso over time.

How does balance relate to quality? If, for example, a wine has insufficient sugar in relation to its acids and phenols, it will present as harsh and acidic and will retard the evolution of flavors in the mouth of the taster. A wine with too much sugar, on the other hand, will be flabby and cloying and will not refresh the palate. The sweetness of sugar also balances out the bitterness of phenols. Alcohol adds to the sensation of sweetness in a wine. It also adds a thickness. Too much alcohol and the wine can present as hot, lead to a reduced perception of wine aroma, and can impart a sense of intoxication.  For a winemaker doing business in the US, there is an approximately $.50 difference in the taxes paid per gallon of produced wine if the alcohol level goes beyond 14.001%.

The winemaker needs to know the acid content of the grape and must in order to: decide when to harvest; determine pre-fermentation must treatment; monitor wine stability; and comply with US TTB requirements of 0.5% minimum acid levels. Red table wines generally range between 0.6% and 0.7% TA as levels below 0.4% render the wine susceptible to infection and spoilage. A second method for measuring the acidity of a wine is through observation of its pH (potential of hydrogen) level. The pH level of a wine affects the way it is perceived by the wine drinker as well as its reaction to micro-organisms. Low-pH wines are generally viewed as sour and render tannins more astringent but they also limit micro-organism growth.

Grape tannins provide color, flavor, structure, and texture to the wine and serves a preservative function. Tannin affects wine balance in the following ways:

• The lower the tannin levels, the greater the amount of acidity the wine can support; conversely, the higher the tannin levels, the lower should be the acidity
• High-acid, high-tannin wines tend towards astringency
• Too much tannin results in wines that are heavy on the palate, lacking in finesse, and possessing a rough finish
• Increasing alcohol content increases the intensity of bitterness and decreases the sensation of astringency
• Low alcohol levels will result in dominant acidity and astringency and harsh, thin wines
• Lowering wine pH increases the astringency of the tannins.

To summarize, acid gives wine a tartness and freshness while countering the effect of sweetness and magnifying the astringency of tannins. If a wine has too much acid it will be puckery and sour; too little and it will be flat, flabby, and dull. If a wine has insufficient sugar in relation to its acids and phenols, it will present as harsh and acidic and will retard the evolution of flavors in the mouth. If the wine has too much sugar, it will be flabby and cloying and will not refresh the palate.

Hopefully the normal grape-growing and alcoholic fermentation processes would have produced a balanced wine but if an imbalance were brought about by an insufficiency or excess of any of the elements described above, the winemaker may choose to blend with a varietal that addresses the imbalance. The following are examples of varietals which contribute to balance-enhancement in selected wine blends (Stenwreth MW, Tong 15; finewineconcierge.com; winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au)

• In the Langhe region, Barbera is used to tone down the tannins of the mighty Nebbiolo
• In California, Petit Sirah is used to add structural backbone to Zinfandel
• Petit Verdot adds freshness and firmness to blends
• Malbec, Merlot, and Carmenere soften the tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux blends
• Cabernet Franc adds freshness (among other features) in Bordeaux blends
• Pinot Noir adds body and structure (among other characteristics) to Champagne
• Chardonnay adds freshness to Champagne
• Mazuelo adds structure and freshness (among other features) to Rioja wines
• Graciano adds acidity to Rioja wines
• Canaiola adds sweetness to Chianti and tempers the harshness of Sangiovese.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Blending and wine complexity

Wines have normally been classified as varietal or blends with the best old world representations of the former originating in Burgundy (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay), Rheingau/Mosel (Riesling), Langhe (Nebbiolo), and the Loire Valley (Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc) and the latter from Bordeaux, Rioja, Chianti, and Chateauneuf de Pape. Eben Sadie, a South African wine producer, sees climate as a key differentiator between the mono-varietals and blends (Jancis Robinson, The virtues of blending, jancisrobinson.com). Grapes grown in cool, continental climates hang longer on the vine and "there is time to build up interesting, terroir-derived" characteristics which are on display in the mono-vatrietal wines of the region. Warmer and maritime regions have shorter growing seasons and varietal wines from these regions tend to be "less interesting and nuanced" than wines made from blends. In this post we explore blending and complexity.

There are a number of blending drivers, as indicated below. While varietal blends tend to dominate, blending can occur down to the single-variety, single-plot level where free-run and press juice are kept separate and then blended in a winemaker-determined proportion at a later date.

According to classof1855.com, complexity in wine is demonstrated by "multiple layers and nuances of bouquet and flavors that are formed mostly in mature wines because aging contributes to this attribute." Further, "complexity creates interest and often unfolds layer upon layer on the nose and in the mouth if the wine is at its peak. Compared to complex wines, other wines seem shallow or one-dimensional."

Benjamin Lewin MW illustrates this difference in his discussion of mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon versus Cab-dominated Bordeaux blends (Cabernet Sauvignon and its blending partners, Tong #15). According to Lewin, the mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon shows greater purity of fruit in its youth but is linear compared to the blend which exhibits a broader flavor spectrum. This is illustrated graphically below where varieties are represented on the x-axis and blending factors (primarily terroir characteristics) are shown on the y-axis. A mono-varietal with two blending characteristics (free-run and pressed juice, let's say) will have less complexity potential than a two-variety blend which will exhibit dual-variety characteristics plus terroir characteristics associated with each. For a Bordeaux blend the potential is magnified.

But, according to Lewin, it is with age that the differences between the wines really appear. The mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon matures but the purity of fruit of its youth yields to austerity while the blend produces the "savory notes of tertiary development."

Eben Sadie views the New World's obsession with varietals as detrimental to progress on the complexity front as producers flit from varietal wine to varietal wine based on "fashion." Lewin sees a New World attitude typified by "blending is what you do only when the pure varietal wine wouldn't be good enough." They both view complexity as high on the desirability list and tightly (but not exclusively) linked to variety blends.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Customer-Owned wine in restaurants: Issues and strategies

I have a strongly held belief that a meal is incomplete except paired with a glass/bottle of the appropriate wine. When the meal is eaten at home, the wine consumed is taken from the owner's stash (and, hopefully, is reflective of what that individual likes to drink). If eating out, however, the diner can choose from the wines that the restaurant has on offer or, where allowed, can bring his/her own. I almost exclusively bring my own and will, herein, explore some of the issues associated with the practice.

There are a number of considerations which motivate towards "packing" your own wine. First, the diner is accustomed to drinking what he/she likes when they sit down to a meal at home. My personal preference is for mature French and Italian wines and not every restaurant caters to this need. Second, most restaurant wine offerings are restricted to corporate norms, lists developed by consultants, or what the owner can secure in the dance with the distributor. These wines may not pair optimally with what you are looking to order on that specific night. Third, the diner has already paid at retail for the wine(s) that he/she likes and it is sitting at home in the cellar. Why should that diner now pay between two and four times the price paid at retail in a restaurant environment. Even if a restaurant charges a $50 corkage fee (only the case at high-end restaurants) a diner will still have a lower total cost (retail price + corkage fee) and higher satisfaction than if they bought off the list.

While a corkage fee represents a revenue stream for the restaurant, it is dwarfed by the opportunity cost that comes along with it. The sale of wine and spirits is a key revenue stream for most establishments and the corkage fee from two bottles of customer-owned wines is quickly swamped by the profitability of two facility-owned bottles which have each been marked up between two and four times. In most cases then, allowing customers to bring wine is more of a goodwill gesture and customer-service driven, rather than a hard-nosed business decision.

There is no uniformity in the corkage-fee strategies employed by restaurants. Some restaurants allow no customer-owned wines under any circumstances while others allow it with no corkage fee (Hillstones's in Winter Park, for example). Some apply a flat fee of between $10 and $50 per bottle while others ask that you buy one bottle off their list and all bottles opened subsequent to that are not assessed a fee (Bleu Provence in Naples, FL, for example). In February of this year, Redd (Yountville, CA) charged me $25 each for the first two bottles and then $50 for every bottle thereafter. Some restaurants will vary the corkage fee by bottle size with magnum's being assessed twice the charge of a 750 ml bottle (neddless to say, I am in disagreement with this policy).

I will not take wine to a restaurant that has a great wine list and attractive pricing (Berns, Caps, Colombia, for example) but I will carry wine on a plane or buy at a fine retail store to ensure that I am drinking what I like if I am travelling out of town. Some of my strategies for making it easy for a restaurant to allow me to bring wines are as follows:

• When I eat out I patronize the restaurants that allow me to bring wine with no corkage fee.
• I hold wine dinners and tastings at these restaurants and recommend them whenever I am asked.
• I will buy a bottle of sparkling off the list at the beginning of the meal if the list is accomodative.
• I will open and pour my own wine thus freeing up the wait staff to take care of other tables.
• I offer some of my wine to the server, chef, and owner so that they can (i) enjoy along with me and (ii) see why I am bringing my own.
• If there is no corkage, I will tip the wait staff $15 per bottle over and above the meal tip to ensure that their earnings do not suffer as a result of my being in the restaurant.
• I strive to bring wines that are not on the restaurnt wine list.

Some people do not want to carry wine to a restaurant because, somehow or the other, they see that as a bad thing. Others may not do so because they "lack the courage" or they are not aware that that possibility exists. Finally, a large percentage of the restaurant population would prefer to get recommendations on what wines to drink with the food from restaurant staff and, as such, will never bring a bottle.

If you are going out with a group that brings wine, bring something along regardless of your qualms as to the comparative quality of your wines. People prefer participants to moochers. If you are not bringing wine to a dinner with this group, you should consider buying that bottle of sparkling off the list, or picking up some portion of the food tab or wine tip.

Happy drinking.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Hamilton's Kitchen at The Alfond Inn (Winter Park, FL)

Hamilton's Kitchen at the Alfond Inn - Rollins is the latest entrant into the richly endowed Winter Park dining scene and its presence cannot help but give diners another reason to travel to the area. I visited the restaurant on Friday night -- two weeks after its opening -- and was extremely pleased with the setting, the cuisine, and the service.

The Alfond Inn is a luxury boutique hotel built by Rollins College with seed money from a $12.5 million grant from the Alfond Foundation. The hotel, located at the corners of East New England and South Interlachen Avenues, features 112 guest rooms, 7800 square feet of meeting space, restaurant, bar, and swimming pool, among other amenities. In excess of $3 million of art from the Alfond Collection and local galleries are on display throughout the hotel's public spaces.

My GPS directed me east on Fairbanks and then suggested a left turn into South Interlachen Avenue. There is no turning lane here and you are separated from oncoming traffic by solid double yellow lines. My suggestion is to make a left turn at Park Avenue instead and then make a right into New England. Valet parking is available at the hotel and is free with a validation sticker from the restaurant.

The hotel is impressive. The foyer is expansive and extends southwards away from the entrance with intersecting corridors providing access to the ground-floor amenities. The first corridor on the right leads to the bar and then debouches into the restaurant.

The western end of the restaurant is dominated by an open-plan kitchen which looks out over a dining room furnished with solid brown wood tables and mismatched chairs (six different chair styles randomly assigned to tables). Seating is booth-style along the walls with four-tops in the core. Four-tops can be strung together to accomodate larger parties.

We were escorted to our seats by one of the fashionably attired hostesses from the reception area and were met with a warm greeting by our assigned waitress shortly after taking our seats. We were each presented with a standard and a Magical Dining (prix fixe menu offered by Orlando-area fine dining restaurants during the month of September) menu and a wine list was provided for the table. At first glance neither of the menus appeared to offer anything out of the ordinary and the wine list seemed rather basic for a restaurant with Hamilton Kitchen's look and feel. Luckily I came equipped with a few bottles from home. The restaurant charges a $30 corkage fee.

I ordered Shrimp and Grits from the standard menu as my appetizer and Pork Belly with Russet Potatoes from the standard menu as my main course (Menu mixing is not normally allowed but the staff was very accommodating.). The Shrimp and Grits was a tasty, generous portion with a slightly tangy note. I paired it with a 2008 Evening Land Chardonnay which was rather Burgundian on the senses. The Pork Belly was less crisp, less salty, and less multi-hued than ones I have encountered previously. Great texture and taste. Accompanied by potato wedges ensconced in clam shells. Paired with a 1987 Chateau Montelena and 2005 Peter Michael Les Pavots. The Montelena was balanced, with soft tannins, freshness and red fruits. Spiciness on the palate with a long finish. The Les Pavots was somewhat leaden; lack of freshness and dominant black fruit. Other members of my group had Cobia and Grouper, meals which were equally impressive.

According to Raoul Matias, Food and Beverage Manager, the food offering will be expanded and the wine list upgraded sometime in the future. Right now they are focused on ensuring that things are working smoothly.

The quality of the food on offer is excellent as it stands today and if, as promised by management, the best is yet to come, Hamilton's Kitchen will become  a fixture on the Winter Park scene.

UPDATE (9/16/2013): I visited Hamilton's Kitchen for lunch on the Wednesday following the publication of this post and my experience was not as encouraging as my initial visit. The environment retains it striking characteristics but the meal and service were somewhat wanting. I had a chicken noodle soup that was salty and the chicken was not very attractive. My hamburger was overdone and not very flavorful. The daytime bartenders were not as attentive to customer needs as I thought they should be, resulting in excessive waits in a non-rush period.

I will revisit the restaurant in the near future to see if this lunch experience was an aberration.

UPDATE (1/6/14): I visited Hamilton again yesterday for lunch and my experience mirrored my 9/16 visit. The service was excellent and management was all ears but the food left a lot to be desired. I started out with a soup that filled me with hope. It was spicy and flavorful. I next tried fish which was done skin-on style but the skin was mushy and the underlying flesh was brown in color and free of flavor. I next tried the Shrimp and Grits. The shrimp was obviously fresh but the entire concotion was unappealing to the eye and the flavor had not workrd its way into the shrimp, giving the impression that it was added to the sauce belatedly. I sent the fish back but did not have the heart to send the Shrimp and Grits back. I closed out with a Burger and Fries without bun. This cooked a little more than I had ordered it but it was edible. The surroundings at this establishment are world class but the food is not. Until the food problem is solved, this restaurant will continue to underperform.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

I have had my last Bressan wine

For a number of weeks I have been watching, with bemusement, the travails of the Italian Integration Minister, Congo-born Cecile Kyenge. In that timeframe she has been damned with faint praise by one Italian politician ("she seems like a great housekeeper"), called an orangutan by another, and had a banana thrown in her direction by an audience member at one of her speeches. This was all disturbing to me but, at the same time, it was far away so the impact was somewhat muted.

It came closer to home last week. According to Dobianchi.com, last week, Fulvio Bressan, one of the leading winemakers in the Collio and Isonzo DOCs of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine region, posted a tirade against the said Minister on his Facebook page. Dobianchi's post, including a translation of the original Bressan post from Italian, can be accessed here.

Why did this strike closer to home? Because of this picture. You see, I have met with,

spoken to, shared a meal, shared multiple bottles of wine, and written glowingly about Fulvio Bressan, his idiosyncrasies, and his wines. I interacted extensively with him over two days in 2011 oblivious to his mindset which equates people of color with simians (revisit the translated post). As I sit now staring at that picture, I feel conned, taken in by a carnival barker.

Why did it strike closer to home? Because it is busting up a construct. I enjoy being a consumer in the wine industry. I enjoy the fact that people are concerned about, and invested in, wines, and wineries, and winemakers. I enjoy the fact that wine is such a great bridge builder; if you bring an interest, everything else is irrelevant. I did a quick search on the internet to see if there had been a similar, recent non-wine-related wine industry scandal and could find none. The Drinks Business lists the top 10 wine scandals and they are all industry-related. Fulvio is attempting to kill the Tooth Fairy.

It boggles the mind that a winemaker -- who is dependent on distributors and retailers to get his wine to the public and on the public to procure same -- would use a social media platform - which is generally used by his peers to promote their wineries and products -- to viciously attack another human being. One wonders about the circles in which he moves and his overall mindset. To harbor those thoughts are damning in and of itself. But to post them in a public forum is the act of someone with the confidence that comes from repeated success or naiveté not befitting someone of his putative stature.

Fulvio you are your family's worst enemy. For eight generations your forbears have striven to make the name Bressan synonymous with great Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine. With one Facebook post you have undone all that work and made the name synonymous with racism and hatred. I do hope that you can truly find a way to rehabilitate yourself but, as a result of your actions, I have had my last Bressan wine.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Coravin wine access system has set my cellar free

The Coravin wine access system was first brought to my attention by Ron Siegel who had encountered the product while dining at 11MadisonPark simultaneous with the restaurant's beta-testing of the product. Ron was extremely impressed and spoke glowingly about the product on his return to Orlando. Based on his enthusiasm, I visited the Coravin website to learn more and, while there, signed up to be notified once they began selling product to members of the public. I had forgotten all about this until Ron recently emailed me his Coravin order confirmation along with a link to the store. The Wine Barn had also received similar notification and Andrew and I both purchased the product on that same day.

We all received our shipment on the same day and were like kids in a candy store. We were examining the product and texting back and forth with each new discovery or question. Andrew was the most adventurous -- or did not have a life -- as he had set up the tool and violated a bottle of wine within 30 minutes of opening the package. He is not one to savor the moment.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Montoya

The Coravin external packaging is slick and pleasing to the eye and this continues through to the interior. Extensive documentation on setup and usage of the product is included in the packaging. The parts of the system (needle and spout) that could potentially be damaged during transit -- or could injure the user if not approached with the appropriate care -- were covered with bright yellow plastic covers which the user was advised to discard prior to system use.

I examined the contents of the package but did nothing further that day. We had a wine tasting that night and Andrew brought his Coravin along to demonstrate its use. The two things that struck me about the product were (i) its ease of use and (ii) the relatively slow rate of flow of wine from the bottle. But this was not a  time for discourse on the topic. We had a tasting to do.

My initial interest in Coravin was driven by my lack of appreciation for the status quo. Outside of wine dinners/tastings, I like to drink a glass of wine or two; sometimes with dinner, sometimes without. In any case, I am forced to open a bottle of wine to meet this need. Because I know that I will not drink all of that wine at one sitting, I go for a low-cost option in order to minimize the cost of spoilage in the event that I do not get back to the bottle in a timely fashion. I do employ a spoilage retardation device (see below) but it has its shortcomings. In this case I am making drinking decisions, not on what I would like to drink, but on financial considerations. And once that bottle is open, the next time I am looking for something to drink, I will gravitate to that open bottle. Not necessarily because that is what I want to drink but because I want to finish it before vinegar kicks in. Coravin promised an end to that. It promised me the ability to tap into any bottle that I wanted to (no more Tuesday-night wine), whenever I wanted to, with retention of the integrity of the contents. I was hooked.

Pre-Coravin wine-access and integrity-retention devices

On Day 1 I hooked up the tool to a bottle of 2009 Fleurie (old habits are hard to break) and extracted my poison. The wine bottle is held at an angle to the glass and a tongue-like flap is pressed for a short period. This injects argon into the bottle and forces wine out through the needle and into the waiting glass. After the required amount of wine is extracted, the bottle is turned upright and the needle is pulled up and out of the cork. As I have noted earlier, the wine flow rate is relatively slow but (i) bearable for a single person or small group and (ii) is a small price to pay in order to reap the promised benefits.

I revisited the same bottle on the second and third days (I was not willing to begin puncturing corks left and right until I was assured that short-term spoilage due to oxygen intrusion was not going to be an issue.) and saw no apparent change in the wine over this period. After extracting each day's portion of wine, I returned the bottle to the cellar and laid it on its side in its designated bin. There was no leakage of wine as a result, proving Coravin's contention that the cork reseals itself after needle-withdrawal. I inserted the needle through the foil on each occasion and that material does retain evidence of needle intrusion but the hole is minute. After the third day I switched to a higher-value wine -- a 2001 Brunello di Montalcino -- and the results were similar.

Post-Coravin wine-access and integrity-retention devices

Because there is some turbulence when the argon is injected into the bottle, I wondered how sediments would be handled by the tool. Would they be fed into the glass? Would they gum up the works by blocking the needle? I directed this question to Greg Lambrecht, Coravin Founder, and he pointed me to a YouTube video on extracting wine from a heavily sedimented bottle. While clear in discussing the steps that one should take when confronted with this situation, the video does not address my question of turbulence and its effect on sediment residence and tool impacts. This is a test that I will probably have to conduct for myself.

All-in-all I am very happy with my Coravin in that it has delivered on its promise in the short term. I am now in control of my cellar. I can drink what I want to when I want to. Wines which I used to look at longingly are now just an insertion away. But remember, this is only one side of the coin. The product has demonstrated accessibility with no short-term issues. I will have to observe some test bottles over longer periods to determine whether the other aspect of the promise (long-term integrity) holds true.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme