Skip to product information
2011 Red Experiment G8.1 | Three-Bottle Collection
  • 2011 Red Experiment G8.1 | Three-Bottle Collection
2011 Red Experiment G8.1 | Three-Bottle Collection

Three-Bottle Collection 2011 Red Experiment G8.1

Experiment G8.1
$1,110.00

The Experimental Story

Put simply, the extremely limited suite of wines that comprise our Experiment Series vary dramatically from year to year, each one a poetic answer to a new set of questions posed by the art of winemaking. While we call these ever-changing wines by the name Experiment, they might also be described as an ‘Investigation’ or ‘Exploration.’

Every new Experiment is but a small bite into a much larger fruit, but each one also tells us something new about our property, our grapes and about the larger subject of wine itself. Only the most compelling Experiments are bottled and released to our mailing list collectors. Many lessons gleaned from Experiment have in turn become new winery practice and informed successive vintages of an estate wine, such as Hexameter.

Tasting Notes

2011 Red Experiment G8.1

Note: Glass Stopper

In the Experiment series, nothing is sacred. We are relentlessly curious to see if there is a better way or a better option out there. With the 2011 G8.1, we explored an alternative closure - the glass stopper. This closure has no risk of taint and no oxygen ingress, so we expected to see that this would keep the wines a touch fresher and potentially influence aging.

Varietal

  • 81.14% Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 11.81% Cabernet Franc
  • 7.04% Merlot
  • 0.01% Petit Verdot

Methodology

At bottling, a glass stopper was hand applied to each bottle, which then received a foil that held the stopper in place. Following bottling, this wine was treated the same as all other wines from this vintage that received a cork finish.

In Conclusion

We have been very pleased with the surprising results. We have had no reports of bottles leaking or the stopper popping out. Additionally, the wine has aged along a similar trajectory as other wines from this vintage. Despite our initial skepticism, the glass stopper has proven to be a very viable alternative to the cork. That said, it has killed a Coravin or two, so we'll probably stick with corks for now.