Help us in the creation of Sextus, a rare six grape varietal blend.
Karlo Estates is a award-winning, artisanal winery in Prince Edward County with a reputation for great full-bodied reds. Our late co-founder, Richard Karlo's vision is being made a reality by the legendary Derek Barnett, a man named both "Winemaker of The Year" (Canadian Wine Awards) and "Wine Person of the Year" by The National Capitol Sommelier Guild in 2015. This "Holy Grail" wine, "Sextus", is made the way monks in the 1800s thought God intended, with all six of the "First-Growth" grape varieties originally planted in Bordeaux.
- Sextus is a wine rarely made since the phylloxera root louse wiped out the vineyards of Europe in the late 1800s. That's because Carménère, the sixth grape, was thought to be extinct.
- After the long-lost Carménère was rediscovered in a vineyard in Chile in 1994, Karlo Estates has cultivated one of the only Carménère plantings in Canada and the only Malbec in Prince Edward County.
- Even though Karlo's Carménère is in its third harvest, until now, Sextus has not been made because of the difficulty in having success with all six varieties in one vintage. 2018 was lucky year.
- Winemaker Derek Barnett with Assistant Winemaker Spencer Mayer earned Karlo 18 Gold Medal scores in 2019 alone, and we now have Sextus in barrel.
We need your help to plant more vineyards so we can make more in future years, as we only have enough in barrel to make 1,000 bottles in this first vintage.
Help us grow & you get dibs on the first edition of Sextus, an instant collector's item.
In return for your help, we will send you something truly exceptional. No, it's not a unicorn, but in the wine world, it's almost as rare.
- We're raising funds to plant more Carménère and other original Bordeaux grape varieties like Malbec and Cabernet Franc on our 93-acre estate so we can make more exceptional red wine in the tradition of old-world winemaking.
- Your support in purchasing the inaugural vintage will afford us the ability to produce more of the rare grapes that do so well at Karlo.
- Sextus also makes a great holiday gift. For every contribution to the Sextus campaign, we will send a voucher with your bottle number(s) inscribed. And like a gift that gives a second time, the actual bottle(s) will be available for pick up at the winery in the fall of next year.
- When you visit, you will be entitled to a Sextus VIP Estate Tour and tasting of six delicious Karlo wines led by one of the vintners, for yourself and as many of your friends as bottles selected in your perk.
The Impact
Your support will help us make Canada proud on the international stage as we show the world we can make the most challenging of classic wines of exceptional quality:
- You can own one of the very first bottles of Sextus to share with your friends or keep as an investment. Either way, your bottle of Sextus will be a treasure.
- 2018 Sextus will stop traffic on a tour of any private wine cellar. To do that for just $100 makes it a great value.
- Sextus would make a brilliant gift for engagements, weddings, graduations, or significant birthdays.
- Serious collectors will want to speculate and secure larger case lots while they can.
- Karlo Estates' Quintus 2013 (5 of the 6 original Bordeaux grape varieties) was seen on a wine list at $1,000 a bottle only 3 years after it was released. Yes, we wish we held on to more.
- Among this year’s 15 Gold Medals scores for Karlo, we have received a Gold Medal in The 2019 All-Canadian Wine Championships and a Gold Medal in the 2019 National Wine Awards of Canada. And Karlo is the only winery to have two wines named on WineAlign's "Best Of The Best of Ontario" list in 2019.
- Now is your chance to invest in a piece of winemaking history.
You could buy a very good, but unexceptional bottle of wine for $100. Or you could invest in a rare find, unavailable at any liquor store, delicious and complex, made by one of the country's most celebrated winemakers, and made by an award-winning international producer from one of the most exciting wine regions in the country, Prince Edward County.
Risks & Challenges
- Minimal risk: Karlo Estates is a proven entity. Sextus already exists and is simply in barrel getting better.
- SEXTUS PERKS AVAILABLE ONLY BY PICK UP AT THE WINERY DUE TO INDIEGOGO ALCOHOL RESTRICTIONS.
Other Ways You Can Help
Here’s how you can help:
- Select your favourite perks.
- Tell your wine-loving friends our story.
- Please share this on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, or your favourite social media to help us get the word out and make some noise.
- If you have a blog, a YouTube channel, or write, please tell everyone our story.
- Please don't forget to use the Indiegogo share tools.
The experts in the video you just saw already expressed how they feel about Karlo. Now your backing will prove that Richard Karlo's vision of creating Sextus over 25 years ago was more than just a dream.
