Glenmorangie Burgundy Wood Finish

This month we head to the Highlands to taste the Glenmorangie Burgundy Wood Finish.

The sixteen men of Tain produce an amazing range and variety of whiskies. To create something fantastic you need a solid base from which to start, and Glenmorangie 10 year old is just that. It is a cracking whisky. Tarlogie spring bubbles up through layers of natural sandstone. The water is high in minerals, and classified as a ‘hard’ water. Glenmorangie uses 17ft tall stills. They are old gin stills and the tallest in scotland. The whisky is then aged in first and second use bourbon barrels for 10 years.

Glenmorangie use this wonderful whisky as their ‘base’ to finish their whisky in a number of different barrels. This month we are looking at the effects of a further 2 years of aging in Burgundy Wine barrels. Burgundy is famous for the worlds most expensive Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. The extra finishing adds gentle layers of complexity to a cracking 10 year old.

The growing demand for the 10 year old means that they are unable to continue to produce the Glenmorangie Burgundy Wood Finish and Madeira finishes, so we have bought all we could of the last of these two wonderful whiskies that will be no more.

Colour: Bright amber, with a slight orange tinge

Nose: Complex aroma – fresh, but slightly linty; sweet, but with a burnt tangy trace – literally “madeirised”; a trace of wood shavings. With a drop of water, fresh black pepper, strong toffee and mint. Some citrus orange in particular, an intriguing burnt characteristic.

Palate: The flavour is “cool” to the palate, but spicy on the tongue; fresh citrus

Finish: Firm and dry finish