Coravin halts sales because of exploding wine bottles
Coravin, the maker of a wine preservation device that costs $300, has stopped selling new units and urges owners of existing units to stop using the device because of a hazard of exploding bottles. In a release, the company says it knows of seven bottles that have exploded with one causing lacerations to the user. The company is working on a solution.
The Massachusetts-based start-up has raised over $11 million in stock and bond offerings. The product, formerly known as the Wine Mosquito since a needle pierces the cork to extract wine one glass at a time and inject inert gas to preserve the rest, has garnered praise as well as provoked some trepidation among collectors.
The full notice follows after the jump.
Important Safety Notice
Dear Coravin Customers,
We hope that you enjoy using your Coravinâ„¢ Wine Access System. This communication follows up on our notification from February 2014 about updates to the Important Safeguards for the proper and safe use of the Coravin System.
As we told you in February, it has come to our attention that, in certain circumstances, wine bottles can burst when used with the Coravin System, presenting a risk of lacerations. We believe the likelihood of this occurrence is very rare since wine bottles are designed to withstand significantly greater pressure than the low pressure the Coravin System places into the bottle. Nevertheless, Coravin has now received seven reports of bottles bursting including one report of a laceration.
We have voluntarily reported these incidences to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in anticipation of a recall. We have submitted a Corrective Action Plan to update the Coravin System instructions and warnings and will provide all existing and future customers with a remedy package that includes a neoprene wine bottle sleeve for use with the Coravin System.
We have voluntarily stopped selling and shipping Coravin Systems until we can fully implement an approved Corrective Action Plan. We are hopeful that in the next 30 days Coravin will be receiving, processing and beginning to ship remedy packages to our customer base. Once we have received approval for the Corrective Action Plan we will begin shipping Coravin Systems containing a wine bottle sleeve. We hope this disruption will be over in July and apologize to you for the inconvenience.
In the interim,Please stop using the Coravin System until you receive the remedy package from us.
And, please read our updated Proper Use and Important Safeguards Guide which can be found in the FAQ section of Coravin’s website.
We will communicate any further details or requirements as part of a follow on communication plan. If you have any questions or concerns about this communication, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly at update@coravin.com or call 1-844-267-2846.
If you have given a Coravin System to anyone else, please forward this communication to them.
We appreciate your support and hope your Coravin System continues to change the way you enjoy, serve and share wine for years to come.
Sincerely,
The Coravin Team
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:04 am ,Jack Bulkin wrote:
Maybe they should change the name to “Wine Grenade”. Parker should amend his glowing review to: Coravin is a product that is the most transformational and exciting new skin lacerating product for wine lovers that has been developed/invented in the last 30+ years.” He won’t though. Ha
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:24 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Jack,
You are hilarious. That is the most hilarious and insightful thing I’ve heard in my entire lifetime. Thank you so much for posting that. Let me know if you need help purchasing a Coravin. All the best.
CB
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:27 am ,Jack Bulkin wrote:
Thanks CB. Actually, I have no need for a Coravin. They actually invented a safer way to taste one glass of wine from the bottle. It was called a Wine Bar. LOL
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:33 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Oh yes. How could I forget? How early do I need to get there to still get some Malbec? Maybe if I’m lucky? I should probably just go now? To be sure. Which one are you at btw?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:54 am ,Steve Edmunds wrote:
do they make cigars?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:56 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Okay that is funny. Good.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:57 am ,Jack Bulkin wrote:
Tyler, it sounds like you have a new editor.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 11:02 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
You’ve been a great crowd. Goodnight. I mean good afternoon. Anyway, thanking you.
CB
On June 3rd, 2014 at 11:44 am ,Blake Gray wrote:
Step back: one (1) person gets one (1) cut so the product has to come off the market?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 11:49 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
It’s not off the market. It’ll be back in 2 seconds. Seriously. Don’t worry. This is just legal nonsense that will be sorted out shortly. And give me a break about it not being safe. You literally would have to go out of your way to hurt yourself. I repeat. Simple legal nonsense. Will be back online in a very short time. Don’t worry.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 4:32 pm ,Albert Webb wrote:
Other than the irritation of the marketing hit, I hardly see this as ever happening. I’ve used a Cork Pops opener on at least 500 bottles and had one explode, but the CP unit is pressurizing the bottle. Coravin is displacing wine so unless a bottle is seriously flawed or etched it’s just never going to happen.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 5:45 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Amen!
On June 3rd, 2014 at 7:05 pm ,Daniel wrote:
Mr. Bacon
So you are saying that no one will ever get hurt using a Coravin?
It sounds like someone already did get hurt.
Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?
It would just take one serious injury from a wine consumer to destroy Coravin and its investors.
In fact, by not taking the original Coravin back and just offering to send out a sleeve to cover it, I wonder if Coravin is opening itself up to that risk.
When automobiles have recalls, it is on the owner of the vehicle to take the car back. Don’t do it, well, that is on you, the owner.
In this instance, it would appear that there are some “kinks” to work out.
Did the Coravin come with a disclaimer? “Do not open btls that are damaged, or chipped.”
Will it come with one now?
We live in a very litigious society and a business can never be too careful in covering its tracks.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 7:18 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
The salient idea from your post is that Coravin should allow anyone who has purchased one already to receive a new sleeve. Is that not what is already happening? I don’t understand what you are wanting to see happen. You do all agree that you pretty much would have to hold it up to your eyeball and try hard to hurt yourself with the device. I mean literally make a concerted effort. That is patently obvious to you I hope?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 7:19 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
I mean we are not talking about nitroglycerin canisters, right? Or did I miss something?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 7:29 pm ,Jack Bulkin wrote:
Mr. Cold Bacon, why do you use that assumed name? Are you affiliated with Coravin, an inestor or merely an unbloodied and satisfied user.
Is it your belief that the end user now has the obligaion to closely examine every bottle that he intends to “Coravin” before injecting the needle and gas? How about unusual shaped bottles or etched bottles? How about older users with visual handicaps? How about bottles purchased from auction with unknown prior history of physical contact that could cause it to be more vulnerable than an average well cared for and stored bottle? You seem very dismissive of these potential hazards. Despite my initial silly comments to Tyler here, as a litigator for 40 years I see many problems with your dismissive attitude here and hope that you are not speaking on behalf of the manufacturers and suppliers of this product.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 7:41 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
I assure you I am not speaking on behalf of anyone but myself. And that you have to ask why anyone would not want everything to do with cold bacon is the biggest mystery of all. Maybe if you spent less time litigating and more time focusing your energy where it should be, like on good prosciutto, then we would not have all these problems. Good day sir.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 8:30 pm ,Chris wrote:
Dollars to doughnuts Cold Bacon works for Coravin, even if he is “not speaking on behalf of anyone but (himself).” The candyass isn’t even speaking on behalf of himself, with the assumed name.
Clearly their concern is plausible deniability. Now if they are sued, they can’t claim they weren’t warned. I’m sure the concern isn’t that many people will have a problem, but that one person will get blinded, sue Coravin, and puff, there goes the $11 million. I don’t know why anyone working there would be afraid to acknowledge that, personally.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:01 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Oh my god you are so worked up. You need first a warm bath. Then a cold Chardonnay. I suggest 2010. I am just a wine lover. Yes I am a fan of Coravin, because it’s a great product. Anyone who uses it knows that already. I am also a fan of any and all smoked meat products. But we are not here to discuss Salmonella or E. coli are we? Are we? If you care so much about Coravin why don’t you email them at their website? Which is free of charge. I mean email is free. You can use it. Reason I post anonymously all over the web since, um, forever. Is nothing to do with Coravin. It’s because it frees me creatively. To deal with lawyers. Of which, oh God, does anyone like lawyers? It’s not a conspiracy. Yours Sincerely, R. Engel, Beaune.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:06 pm ,chris wrote:
Nobody is worked up – people just know trolls when they see them.
There have been 19 posts on this thread, 10 by Cold Bacon.
Who is “worked up”?
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:13 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Yes I’m a troll. You got me. And I’m so worked up. Ha! This is my baseline. You should see me when I’m really worked up. It’s almost like. Well it’s like an exploding wine bottle I should think. Extremely dangerous. Likely to kill at least seven people. OMG. RE
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:37 pm ,Jack Bulkin wrote:
Probably not seven people Cold Bacon. I understand that the explosions have caused the bottle(s) to shatter in four pieces or less. I don’t know who said only one person’s bottle exploded and cut them, but I am certain that the truth will come out in the end. As will your IP address.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:38 pm ,RobinC wrote:
I’ll wear safety glasses.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:41 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
That’s seven people per second. Did I mention. When these bottles explode. I mean, brother, they explode. Hide your children. Hide yourself. Can nobody please respond so I can go to bed? Goodnight Cleveland.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 9:47 pm ,Cold Bacon wrote:
I will put a neoprene suit on myself. And then I will probably go to sleep with it on. In case the Coravin goes by itself and starts exploding things in my house. I must be protected. I will inquire about coating my insides with neoprene also. Talk to my primary care physician tomorrow. Good thinking. Thanks. RE
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:00 pm ,Rick Baumgarten wrote:
Sorry, group , but I’m with Mr Bacon. It really is a shame
when you have to cover your butt with legalese
to the extent that is necessary these days. My company
sold a portable DeWalt miter saw in the banded
box. The buyer removed the safety shield and proceeded
to cut off two fingers. His lawyer sued not only DeWalt and us, the
retailer, he sued the trucking company that shipped
it to is. This Is documented. Hard to blame Coravin
for their action. It’s what had to be done.
On June 3rd, 2014 at 10:49 pm ,Daniel wrote:
No one is blaming Coravin for what they are doing.
I think the question is, “is it enough?”
Would a retailer want to sell this again, and risk what you just referred to, Rick?
The sleeve does not release them from liability if someone really gets hurt.
On June 4th, 2014 at 11:10 am ,Grey B wrote:
Have you ever pulled the cork on a bottle that had been coravin’d? The amount of gas it lets out is so minuscule. I was expecting a “pop” like a champagne cork, but it’s more like the sad hiss of a newly flat bottle of soda. I really do not see how it could cause a bottle to shatter that had not already been compromised in some way. And that, ultimately, is on the user.
That said, I don’t (yet) own a Coravin myself due to the price. But if any risk-averse person reading this would like to free themselves from hypothetical death-by-exploding-bottle, I will happily trade you a 100% safe Metrokane Rabbit.
On June 4th, 2014 at 4:16 pm ,Augie wrote:
Nice to see that everyone has their dictionaries and thesauruses out using big words!
On June 5th, 2014 at 5:33 am ,Il sistema Coravin non fa esplodere le bottiglie ma è meglio se leggi le avvertenze | Wine Planet wrote:
[…] notizia che il sistema Coravin faccia esplodere le bottiglie è largamente esagerata, ma qualcosa al […]
On June 6th, 2014 at 8:47 pm ,Erika wrote:
I happened to purchase a Coravin…late last week and it was shipped. I received it on Monday the 2nd. Coravin did not stop shipping as their letter states. In addition, I was not informed of their warning nor was I given any sleeve for the bottle. It wasn’t until a friend emailed me a link to this site the next day did I know about this risk.
Needless to say, I am disappointed as I was looking forward to enjoying my new purchase.
Lastly, when I emailed Coravin about my purchase and no notification of the new risk, I did not receive a reply. I understand that things happen, but how Coravin has dealt with this is what is disappointing to me. They should do what they say they are going to do so they may rebuild trust with their past and future customers.
On June 7th, 2014 at 10:28 am ,Liquor Industry News/Links 6-7-14 | Franklin Liquors wrote:
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On June 24th, 2014 at 5:44 am ,Sonya wrote:
Cold Bacon most definitely works for Coravin in either their PR or Marketing departments. I am sure he has a nice chunk of stock at stake also. There is no reason why he would be monitoring these comments so closely. I too own a Coravin and never received any notice via email or snail mail about this issue. They have done a poor job at communicating this as if trying to hide it. There have been 7 bottles that have exploded? How many more need to be hurt before people take this seriously? I love how “only one laceration has resulted” is supposed to make us feel better about this. All you need is one bottle to explode while being used at a restaurant for a customer to sue Coravin and the restaurant. I see the impending end for this product.
On June 24th, 2014 at 6:11 am ,Cold Bacon wrote:
Dearest Sonya,
Would you like to go out to dinner with me? Just name the time and place. My treat. You seem like a delightful individual.
Looking forward to seeing you,
CB
On July 13th, 2014 at 5:59 am ,Barry Smith wrote:
I think you need to look at it like this:
– Is using a Coravin more or less dangerous than getting in a car?
– Do you regularly get in a car without getting all worked up about the risks every time?
– Given the answers to these questions, is it really worth getting into a lather about the tiny risk from using a Coravin?