Who says you have to save that bottle for the weekend? Pour a taste on Tuesday and on Friday you’ll never know the difference! Or at least that’s the selling point of Pivot by Coravin: a specialist wine preservation system that keeps your bottle fresh and tasting just as good as when it was first opened for up to 4weeks!
In the world of wine there are a variety of gadgets and gizmos available for serving and preserving wines, but do they all work? And are they worth the money if you are going to be finishing the bottle quickly anyway? We took a look at a few of the gadgets on the market…
Pivot by Coravin
This is the perfect solution for a wine specialist like us! As a company who taste test every wine we sell, it is essential that we can try the wine without having to finish the bottle. Can you imagine if every time we needed to do a tasting session we had to finish the bottle or risk wasting it? We’d never get any work done! But thanks to Coravin’s wine preservation system – Pivot – the bottle remains sealed and fresh for up to 4weeks which allows us to not just taste test once or twice, but also to sample the wine with a range of customers without incurring an additional cost. It also enables us to sample some rather special wines, that otherwise would not be economical to do so. Following the trend of drinking less wine but better quality, this system works a treat, allowing you to enjoy your top drop over many days without fear of spoilage. If you’re a restaurant looking to sell more premium and fine wines by the glass, this is definitely a gadget worth checking out!
NB. Only suitable for wines with a natural cork.
Chiller Stick
This one is almost too gimmicky! Especially when you consider the exclusive growers and suppliers we work with. However, to enjoy the wine at the perfect temperature, especially if your customer is considering a picnic and with no other option to keep the bottle cool, we might just allow it!
Electric Bottle Opener
We’re sure you can imagine just how many bottles we have opened, or tried to open in our time! When corks break, or the opener just isn’t meaty enough to cope, it’s very frustrating and can often risk you wasting a perfectly good bottle. But what about an electric opener? Aside from the disconcerting whirring, we aren’t convinced they are any better equipped to deal with a difficult cork any more than a good manual opener. Especially when the many manual bottle openers available on the market have a well engineered mechanism that is smooth and easy to use. Our favourite is the simple to use Pulltaps Waiters Friend.
Wine Thermometer
As previously mentioned, ensuring your wine is at the perfect temperature for serving is essential for its enjoyment. If you’re not particularly au fait with temperatures and often feel the cold or run with perpetually warm hands, we can see why a thermometer might help you to really pinpoint the bottle’s temperature. That being said, the majority of restaurants have an ambient temperature in their wine store suitable for most bottles of red. And wine fridge manufacturers probably know their stuff when it comes to adjusting the temperature setting for your bottles of white, so the need for a bottle thermometer becomes a little pointless.
Wine Aerator
Now this is something we can get behind! A wine aerator is a simple, yet ingenious device that allows for a richer, more flavoured taste. Whether using a simple plug and pour aerator, or opting for an electric one that decants the wine for you, they are definitely a worthwhile investment to ensure the full flavours of your wine can be tasted. In a busy restaurant where bottles get opened in quick succession, they are primed to minimise the need for allowing a bottle to sit before consumption. Great tasting wine, enjoyed without the wait, what could be better!