So how well does it all work? Like the Coravin 1.0, nearly perfectly. I experimented with the Coravin Sparkling using two different bottles of sparkling wine. I emptied around one-third of the first bottle, left it for two weeks untouched, then tasted it again. The second bottle I emptied one glass at a time over three different sessions over the course of two weeks, ending with the bottle about a third full for a final tasting. At no point in the process did either wine seem much different than when I first uncorked them. Both were bright and full of flavor and effervescence, a far cry from the tepid fizz you end up with after a day or two when using a standard champagne stopper. However, I did find that the emptier the bottle was, the quicker it lost its carbonation once poured into a glass, so it’s probably best not to plan on keeping that one final glass of prosecco around forever.

Getting stoppers on and off can be tricky, but the system is easy to master with a little practice, just like the original Coravin. The system is also decidedly costly: $399 for the unit and two stoppers, plus four CO₂ capsules. (Each capsule can refill seven bottles.) Extra stoppers run $90 for a two-pack. Six CO₂ capsules run $45—a better deal than the $53 Coravin charges for six smaller argon capsules, which are used for still wines.

The Coravin Sparkling system effectively proves that once a sparkling wine bottle is open, the only way to keep it fresh is to replace the gas that escaped upon opening. That said, you’ll spend more on the Coravin Sparkling than even the priciest standard still-wine Coravin model, which is funny, because it doesn’t seem nearly as technologically advanced. (The original Coravin is built around a spinal surgical needle, while this unit just blows gas through a rubber valve.) Still, is $400 too high a price to pay to ensure you don’t have to finish off that bottle of Dom Perignon ’96 all in one sitting? Don’t answer that.