Coravin: Greg Lambrecht's Corker of a Wine Idea

The Coravin 1000 Wine Access System is equal parts sleek and menacing, like a medical device designed by Darth Vader for Prada. Machined out of stainless steel, plastic, rubber, and matte-black zinc, the instrument has a satisfying heft, with powerful clamps that grip the neck of a bottle. A surgical-grade, Teflon-coated needle stabs through the cork. A click of the Coravin’s trigger injects a puff of argon gas. Out comes the wine in a steady trickle. The point of the Coravin isn’t that it extracts wine—a $4 corkscrew can do that. This thing costs $299 because of what happens to the wine left in the bottle, which is, as far as the most sophisticated palates in the world can tell, nothing.