Stratus Vineyards collaborated with Karim Rashid to create a unique bottle design for the Ontario vineyard’s special Cabernet Franc. The very cool-looking deconstructed bottle holds the 2014 vintage and is ready to drink now.
Karim Rashid Bottle for Stratus Decant Cabernet Franc
Similar to the designer’s fragmented vodka bottle for Anastesia, the wine bottle appears “chopped up” and then reconnected with its jagged edges and faceted silhouette.
The following text is courtesy of Stratus Wines
This debut bottling of Cabernet Franc ‘Decant’ is a design collaboration between Stratus Vineyards and Global Industrial Designer Karim Rashid. The aim was to embody the Stratus philosophy of ‘form followed by function’ by capturing the elements of vineyard diversity and winery design into a single contemporary bottle. Inside is a special Cabernet Franc, of which only 110 cases were produced, which was fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfiltered on the lees.
“This limited edition cabernet franc comes in the arresting and radical “Decant” bottle created by renowned industrial designer Karim Rashid. At the May 3/17 launch he explained he wanted to deconstruct the conventional wine bottle and “chopped it up”. This led to two surprising bits of functionality. First, the ridges provide more grip while pouring than a rounded bottle. Second, the ridges trap and withhold any sediments during pouring.
This led winemaker JL Groux to make a sedimented wine that was naturally fermented and aged on its lees in barrel, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. It is a quite rich, complex and refined cabernet franc with generous aromas of raspberry jam, tobacco and oak derived toastiness. It also had more exotic nuances of anise and chinoto, an Italian soft drink (Brio and others) flavoured with the myrtle leaf orange. It’s quite full bodied, with a satiny mid-palate and fine drying tannin. The length is very good to excellent. I sensed that it may not live for years, which is a good thing for those who will only buy one bottle to display as a curio and collectors item. It is only available at the winery and on the Stratus website while supplies last. Tasted May 2017 – 91 Points” David Lawarson, WineAlign.com
“A designer’s hands are tied. They are only as good as their opportunities.” The words of the brilliant bottle designer Karim Rashid fully apply to the mirrored universe in which winemaker J-L Groux works, here with a deferential and ulterior cabernet franc, bottled with its lees. When I first tasted it in February (in advance of this auspicious release), its unfiltered state spoke of a hyperbole of perfume, marked by exoticism. The aromatics gave far east five-spice, star anise, cardamom, miso and incense, all natural by-products of its purposed ferment. More grain spoke out but also a roundness of tannin and a smoothness both coating and comforting.There was chocolate accentuated by the treatment, with thanks to those left in the bottle lees. The chopped up and constructed bottle catches the lees while the volume flows out and the function out of form mimics the thought of lees delivering structure and yet they are invisible, caught in a hidden net or nook, out of sight, out of mind. But it’s not about pouring. It’s about the hand, or the slight thereof. Then there is the copycat idealism of strata in the vineyard, of geology transferred to the bottle and kept there, like a ship perfectly preserved inside. This cabernet franc will age better, as is the plan, with thanks to the lees that you’ll never have to deal with. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted twice, February and May 2017. – 93 Points” Michael Godel, WineAlign.com
Details
Varieties: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2014
Body: full
Region: VQA Niagara Lakeshore
Winemaker: J-L Groux
Alcohol: 13.7%
Bottle size: 750 mL
Serving Temperature: 18 °C
Drinking Window: 2017 – 2024
Harvest Date: November 20, 2014
Cooperage: 571 days in French oak │ 40% new
You can purchase the Karim Rashid Bottle for Stratus Decant Cabernet Franc here
https://www.stratuswines.com
images courtesy of Karim Rashid and Stratus Wines