Can You Use Coravin To Open A Bottle Of Champagne Or White Wine?
One of the most famous of all sparkling wines, champagne is a favorite liquor for toasts during special occasions, traditional ceremonies, and other celebrations. But can you use the Coravin wine opener to access a bottle of champagne?
The Coravin wine system works excellently with still wines, such as red and white wines. However, we do not recommend using this wine preservation system to open bottles containing sparkling wines like champagne.
Using Coravin Wine Preserver with Different Wines
To help you decide when to use your Coravin wine system, here are the different classifications of wines according to their alcohol content and the vinification process they underwent.
Still Wine
Still wine is a type of wine that is not bubbly or sparkly. After the primary fermentation, it is treated to remove carbon dioxide, which is the one responsible for the bubbles. To ensure that no trace of the inert gas remains, still wine is left to mature in barrels for months or years before bottling.
As long as the still wine is in a standard shaped bottle, you can use the Coravin wine opener to access it.
Champagne and Sparkling Wines
Technically, sparkling wine is a type of still wine with added sparkle. Instead of removing the carbon dioxide, sparkling wines undergo secondary fermentation to create effervescence in the bottle. Unlike still wines, this type of wine is sparkly and fizzy, hence the name.
Champagne is mainly sparkling wine — but no ordinary sparkling wine. Made from specific varieties of grapes that were locally grown in a French wine region of the same name, all champagne comes from France. Its production follows a very stringent set of guidelines, including a complex secondary fermentation process and specified grape-pressing methods.
Using the Coravin wine opener to access a bottle of champagne or any sparkling wine can be dangerous. With a significant amount of carbon dioxide trapped inside, a champagne bottle can have a high pressure of up to 90 pounds per square inch that causes its cork to exit at approximately 25 miles per hour. Putting a long, sharp needle into it doesn’t seem to be a good idea.
Although the current Coravin wine system is not designed for champagne or sparkling wines, the Coravin team is continuously developing a wine preservation system that might support these types of wines in the future.
Fortified Wine
Fortified wines are still wines with higher alcohol content. Commonly, winemakers add distilled spirit such as brandy to their wine, providing up to 43% extra boost of alcohol. This type of wine preserves better. Some examples of fortified wines are Port, Sherry, and Vermouth.
You can safely use the Coravin wine opener to access a fortified wine bottle. But due to its higher sugar content, we suggest that you clean the unit twice after each use to ensure that no residue is left.
Conclusion
You may not be able to use the Coravin wine opener for your Champagne toasts, but you can always depend on it when drinking other types of wine. So the next time you need to celebrate with a drink, you may want to consider still and fortified wines to use with your Coravin device.
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