Our 6th anniversary session had a twist – rather than our usual blind tasting approach, I opted for bottles that do not disclose the distillery. My last choice was Wilson & Morgan, an independent whisky bottler out of Italy – “The Italian way to Scotland’s finest whiskies.”
“Here’s to women’s kisses, and to whiskey, amber clear;
not as sweet as a woman’s kiss, but a damn sight more sincere!”
Wilson & Morgan “Highland Heart” Sherry Cask 9 year (2006/2015) 43%
Here is what our original underground tasting group had to say:
- Nose – Immediate sherry, then old leather chair, dusty bookshelves, incredibly rich, marmalade, coffee, chocolate, toffee, slightly nutty, yet with that sweet stewed prunes sherry underlying it all
- Palate – Sooooo soft! Cotton ball soft. More of the rich orange, incredibly rounded, simply so tasty you wanted to settle down with it for an entire evening
- Finish – Red pepper, mile long finish, left you salivating for more
As one taster put it “Such a tasty whisky!” And another dubbed it “very royal.” It indeed had quite a regal quality – a classy classic whisky. The interplay of a hint of peat with royal sherry reminded us of an aged GlenDronach, yet softer and exceedingly well-rounded.
Some of us re-sampled it with a nutella cheesecake or salty sweet cookies dipped in warm chocolate milk… a delightful combination! (from One Street Over).
What does the bottle tell us? It was distilled April 2006, bottle January 2015 as a room sample Cask No 2004/2011.
The William & Morgan’s Sherry cask is known to be from the Macallan distillery. When I first sampled it at La Maison du Whisky, I simply fell in love. The nutty quality, the clear stamp of sherry with flirtatious peat… All I could think was – if this is what Macallan can still produce, where has it all gone? Truly a superb whisky.
Here is what the William & Morgan folks have to say about their whisky:
Returning to sherry intensity after the more delicate 2014 release, our young Speysider tries to evoke memories of a beloved legendary whisky from this region that was sold as a 7 years old in Italy and of which we have fond memories.
- The nose is very winey, almost spicy and slightly astringent, with the fragrance of walnuts.
- On the palate it retains this lively spiciness, for a pungently peppery character, but it’s well matched by the resinous sweetness of dried fruits (peaches, apricots, plums, sultana raisins) and at the same time it’s kept lean and fresh by a clean mineralogy. It tastes already fully mature thanks to the very active oak casks.
- In the end it adds a note of liquorice, to complement the interplay of spice and sweetness
Purchased at La Maison du Whisky as part of a whisky ‘speed dating‘ session.
We loved it!!
The trio of whiskies sampled in our undisclosed distillery evening included:
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