Reserve Wines by the Glass: How Our Coravin Works

Every restaurant runs into the same problem with great wine. Once a bottle is open, the clock starts. Oxygen gets in, and the wine that tasted wonderful on Friday is tired by Sunday. That's why the best bottles on most lists are sold by the bottle only. If you wanted one glass of something special, you were out of luck.

We didn't like that answer, so we changed it.

What the Coravin actually does

Behind our bar is a commercial Coravin system. Instead of pulling the cork, a thin needle passes through it. The wine pours out through the needle, and argon fills the space the wine leaves behind. Argon is an inert gas: it doesn't react with wine, so it protects the bottle instead of aging it. When the needle comes out, the cork closes back up.

The rest of the bottle never meets the air. The glass we pour next week tastes like the glass we pour tonight.

What that means at your table

It means our reserve wines are on the by-the-glass list. Wines like Cliff Lede Poetry from Napa Valley, Don Melchor from Chile and Fisher Unity are the kind of bottles people usually save for a big occasion. Here, you can have one glass with dinner on an ordinary weeknight.

It also means nobody at the table has to compromise. One of you wants a crisp white with seafood, the other wants a serious red. You don't need to agree on a bottle. Each of you orders exactly the glass you want.

How we pour a reserve glass

Reserve pours are measured into a 6.5 oz carafe and poured at your table. Measuring keeps every pour accurate and consistent. Pouring tableside means you see what you're getting, and the wine gets a moment of air on the way into your glass. It's a small bit of ceremony, and these wines deserve it.

Where reserve pours fit on our list

Crave has been part of Mount Pleasant since 2008. Our list today is wine-focused and leans New World, with approachable glasses starting at $10. The reserve pours sit at the top of that list, and the Coravin is what lets them sit alongside your weeknight favorites. You can start with something easy and finish with something memorable, all by the glass.

If your table is ready to commit to a bottle, ask your server about our Cellar Selections, a short list of limited big bottles that we don't keep in large numbers.

However you like to drink wine, we'd like the list to work for you, not the other way around.  Make dinner plans at Crave , and ask us what's open behind the bar.

— Sophia