The peat is fine-grained, much more clearly highland peat than Islay or Coastal as it foregoes the iodine and TCP or boat oil, more reminiscent of an autumn bonfire somewhere in the distance. The sherry brings in the classic Macallan profile to work in perfect balance with that unique peat-inflected edge. A true masterpiece of the bottler's art. Just 690 crystal decanters filled at 47%.

COLOUR: Rich Autumn Gold.
NOSE: Warm and inviting scents of butterscotch meet aromatic heather, encapsulated by orange zesty charcoal Smoke.
PALATE: Satisfyingly, creamy and peppery with aromas of roasted nuts, nutmeg and clove, with hints of Madagascan vanilla, dark chocolate, honey, candied fruits and floral smoke.
FINISH: Long-lingering sweet, oaky spice.

Savour the full-bodied complexity of the Macallan Highland Single Malt Sherry Oak Cask 18YO Bottled 2023 NV, a distinguished spirit renowned globally. Matured exclusively in handpicked Spanish oak sherry seasoned casks for 18 years, this extraordinary dram embodies the Macallan's commitment to exceptional cask management from their Speyside distillery in the Highlands of Scotland.

The Macallan Highland Single Malt Sherry Oak Cask 18YO Bottled 2023 NV offers a symphony of sophisticated flavours. The nose will enchant you with the aroma of dried fruits, ginger, and toffee. Palate-wise, you're introduced to a balanced richness with notes of dried fruits and spice, complemented by hints of vanilla and dark chocolate. The finish is long lasting with a warming oak and a smooth velvety texture.

Hailed as a paragon of its kind, this whisky is the quintessence of The Macallan’s craftsmanship, promising a sublime taste experience.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2023 (97)

Our Best in Show journey across Northern Spain continues with a 2020 Bierzo, grown just across the provincial border from Galicia into Castilla y Léon. It’s another zone of steep slopes and old vines – the variety in this case being Mencia (known as Jaen in Portugal’s Dão region). This wine is deep black-red in colour and vivacious and urgent in aroma: wild plums mingled with the woodland scents of leaf, copse and forest floor. The palate is fruit-packed and vibrant, vigorous with an energy derived both from ripe acidity and fresh though smooth tannins; look out, too, for a stony, bitter-edged finish perhaps derived from the region’s slate soils. Wonderful drinking now in the flush of youth, but fruit of this quality will hold well for a few years yet.

The Mortlach Speyside Single Malt Sherry Finish 21YO Bottled 2020 1999 is a perfect representation of the renowned quality of the Mortlach distillery in Scotland. Richly matured for 21 years in American oak barrels and creatively finished in Oloroso sherry casks, this Scotch elicits a remarkable aroma and distinct flavour profile.

Noteworthy is the warmth of its sherry finish, a result of the maturation in traditional oak casks. The full-bodied spirit reveals tantalising hints of dark chocolate, dry fruits, and spicy undertones, resulting in an unforgettable palate. Taken in conjunction with a long, smooth finish, the Mortlach Speyside Single Malt Sherry Finish 21YO Bottled 2020 1999 speaks volumes about the distillery's commitment to incomparable quality and artisanal craftsmanship.

This fine whisky confirms Mortlach’s reputation for producing robust, complex spirits, a delight to both discerning connoisseurs and curious seekers of fine whisky globally.

Wine Advocate (93)

La Gundiñas is the wine that shows the most differences between 2017 and 2018. The 2017 La Vizcaína Las Gundiñas is dark and concentrated, a wine of sun, while the 2018 is delicate and feels like a mini Bonnes Mares! This is quite like a Cornas—meaty, juicy, a little reticent and powerful, with abundant tannins. This is one wine that behaves better in 2017 than in 2016. This is a plot that has ups and down; it might be more regular in the future, as they finally bought it in 2018. Some 5,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2020 La Vizcaína La del Vivo is super harmonious, tasty and balanced. The wine matured in two 2,500-liter oak foudres, and a small part fermented and matured in amphorae with skins. It's varietal and expressive and comes from two plots, one with sandy soils and another one in Cacabelos with some boulders. There's always a small percentage of Doña Blanca in the blend. It's very dry and has a chalky texture. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2021.

Wine Advocate (95)

I was impressed by the 2017 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, but the warm vintage was very good for a warmer vineyard like El Rapolao. This is hands-down my favorite of the 2017s from La Vizcaína, the wine that shows more freshness. It's harmonious and perhaps was harvested a little earlier than the others. Like the other wines from the range, this 2017 has more color than the 2018, as well as more power and a little more concentration, and it's also denser than the 2018, with tannins that are grittier and a little drier. But if I didn't have the 2018 next to this, I would only be praising it, because the 2017 is truly impressive, all in place and simply one step up in power and all the rest to keep the balance. 10,000 bottles were filled in May 2019. This is a late-budding vineyard, and it didn't suffer the effect of the spring hail from the year.

Wine Advocate (95)

Raúl Pérez has purchased the plot of El Rapolao that he uses for La Vizcaína, close to 1.3 hectares, and they expect the wine to have a big change as they are taking over the viticulture and want to lower yields. The 2019 La Vizcaína El Rapolao has plenty of tannin and is more concentrated than the 2020. 5,000 bottles produced.

Wine Advocate (96)

There is more freshness in the 2020 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, where I even found notes of eucalyptus. It's medium-bodied and has fine tannins, very tasty and balanced. There are two new plots in 2020, so they produced some 7,500 bottles. He wants to reach 20,000 bottles here, and there will be a white Rapolao from a plot that he planted with Godello.

Vinous (94)

Shimmering violet. Intensely perfumed aromas of dark berries, cherry pit, incense, exotic spices and pungent flowers, along with a smoky mineral flourish that builds in the glass. Densely packed and chewy on the palate, showing excellent depth and bright mineral lift to the sappy black and blue fruit, spicecake and violet pastille flavors. Gains energy with air and finishes impressively long and juicy, polished tannins building slowly and harmonizing with the wine's mineral-tinged fruit.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 2019 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana comes from sandy soils and mostly north-facing vines, delivering elegant and floral wines. It's very young and fruit-driven, perhaps not as complex as the 2020. All of these reds are around 13.5% alcohol, medium-bodied and quite harmonious. 2019 was one of the larger crops, and there are 7,000 bottles of this.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2020 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana matured mostly in a troncoconic oak foudre and had a very short time in barrel. This wine has more Alicante Bouschet in the blend than others, and they didn't include the white grapes in the vineyard. But against all logic, the wine has more finesse than the 2019. 6,000 bottles produced.

Based in the small village of Ballindaloch on the banks of the River Spey, situated a stones throw from Glenfarclas, Tomintoul is a modern classic. Known popularly as "the gentle dram with a peaty tang" it breaks with fellow Speysiders by introducing a hint of peat smoke to their distillery's flavour profile.

Less heavily peated than the likes of Ardmore, Tomintoul has begun to gradually build up its reputation around the world and though it can still be considered an insider's secret, a number of independent bottlings from Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory and Douglas Laing have raised the distillery's profile among the cognoscenti and an increased and much improved distillery-bottled range have paved the way for a very bright future for the brand indeed.

Tasting Note
At 7 years of age but with regauged numbers from April 2021 reminiscent of a newly filled cask, this is a superb long term offering that has excellent upside for the 5-year term bringing it to 12 years old. Fresh and barley driven with that classic Tomintoul peaty tang, there is a lot of potential to develop into a very complex, elegant malt.