The Prosecco Problem
By Adam Campbell-Schmitt | August 5, 2026
All indications are that drinking habits are shifting. For some, that means swapping boozy beverages out entirely; for others, myself included, that simply means drinking less frequently.
Enter what I call the Prosecco Problem (the “Champagne Conundrum” wasn’t alliterative enough). When you open a full-size bottle of bubbles but you and your partner only intend to have one drink a piece, you’re left with a few choices: change your plans and finish the bottle in one night, attempt to preserve leftovers for later, or—most unacceptable of all—dump what’s left. Sparkling cocktails are even more of a challenge because they use even less wine per drink.
What’s a weekend Aperol Spritz drinker to do? What if I don’t want to throw a whole aperitivo party just to make sure no Prosecco goes to waste?
Two Preservation Options, One Head-to-Head Test
Somewhere along the line, I acquired a basic sparkling wine stopper. It’s a simple mechanism that kind of seals the uncorked opening with a spring-loaded rubber disc, and wings that clamp down under the lip of the bottle to keep it snug and in place. After a couple of days, though, the contents of the bottle become noticeably flat.
Then there’s Coravin, the wine preservation system that, in its original iteration, used a needle to puncture a bottle’s cork in a way that let wine out and pumped argon gas in to preserve what’s left. It basically let you open your wine without opening your wine, keeping it good for years. Coravin followed that innovation up with the Coravin Sparkling system, which can’t puncture the cork under so much pressure, but instead acts as a replacement clip-on cap, pressure-sealed with CO2 charges to keep the contents fizzy and fresh.
Coravin has the technology, but it also has a high price tag: $399. So I ran a little spritz experiment, pitting the basic cap and the Coravin Sparkling against each other to see if the fancy system—designed for preserving high-end bottles of Champagne—significantly outperformed the stopper for the more pedestrian use of making a single household’s sparkling cocktails. Would using it let me enjoy more, and better, spritzes from one reused bottle?
Day 1: Setting Up the Experiment
After pouring a few ounces from each of two identical bottles, I capped them off. Slapping the cheap stopper onto the bottle is easy, and it’s a low-profile solution, though the bottle has to remain standing up because it’s not a perfect seal and it will leak. The Coravin Sparkling cap snaps on easily, and with a quick press of the Sparkling Charger on top, the bottle fully seals and repressurizes—meaning, yes, you can store it on its side (and, depending on your fridge shelf situation, you may need to, as the cap adds a couple of inches of height).
Day 3: The First Clear Difference
Two and a half days after sealing both bottles, I opened them again for a spritz. Right away, I noticed a more pronounced piff of CO2 released from the Coravin than from the stopper. The Coravin prosecco had maintained a thick layer of foamy mousse compared with the pour from the stopper bottle. The flavor of the Coravin wine remained brighter, while the other bottle tasted more oxidized. Still, I’ll admit that, to my palate, any major difference in effervescence or flavor was undetectable, especially as part of a mixed drink. After just a few days, the stopper had very few bubbles left for my spritz.
Day 5: The Coravin Pulls Ahead
This is when things got interesting. The Coravin, again, poured like a fresh bottle, with bubbles and fizz still tickling my nose as I tasted it, plus bright, crisp fruit notes still front and center. Five days in, the Coravin-sealed sparkling wine was as effervescent as it was on day one. The resulting Aperol Spritz was as vibrant and refreshing as the cocktail I made on day one. The cheap-stopper-sealed prosecco added no texture to the cocktail—the only carbonation left was from the club soda. It simply wasn’t an enjoyable spritz drinking experience.
The Verdict: Is the Coravin Sparkling Worth $399?
If you’re cutting back your drinking but not cutting it out, and you buy higher-quality sparkling wines (read: more expensive), the Coravin Sparkling preservation system is a worthwhile investment, letting you enjoy those bottles on their own or in a cocktail at your own pace. The system is easy to use when recapping bottles, and the only ongoing maintenance costs are the CO2 cartridges, with each cartridge good for up to seven 750ml bottles.
- Worth it if: You’re drinking less but buying higher-quality sparkling wine and want to enjoy it over multiple sittings.
- Skip it if: Your go-to is an $11 Prosecco and you just need bubbles—mini bottles or a basic stopper may suit you better.
If your primary concern with a bottle of sparkling wine is simply that it’s bubbly and any $11 Prosecco will do, I think you’d have to buy dozens of bottles before you could feel like this gadget was paying for itself. You might be better off getting mini bottles for an occasional spritz sesh.
That said, if you do choose to dive into the Coravin Sparkling system, your results—whether using top- or bottom-shelf bottles—will definitely be better.
Adam Campbell-Schmitt is a New Jersey-based journalist, writer, and editor who has been covering food, drinks, travel, pop culture, and lifestyle news for almost a decade, and is a published satire and humor writer. Adam was a senior editor and writer of daily news at Food & Wine for eight years.