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Edradour 1997 11 Year Old Chateau Neuf Du Pape Finish

Average score from 2 reviews and 3 ratings 75

Edradour 1997 11 Year Old Chateau Neuf Du Pape Finish

Product details

  • Brand: Edradour
  • Bottler: Distillery Bottling
  • ABV: 58.1%
  • Age: 11 year old
  • Vintage: 1997

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@Nemesis101
Edradour 1997 11 Year Old Chateau Neuf Du Pape Finish

Well I have to say I've never tried a Chateauneuf Du Pape finished whisky - whatever next?

Trying neat for now....

I get toffee and plums on the nose. Caramel descending into sticky toffee pudding. Dried fruits. For 58% ABV there is surprisingly little nasal burn - normally I find it necessary to add water straight away to such high strength malts.

Adding a touch of water for the palate however...

The palate has more of a sharp fruit flavour - redcurrants and tangy berries for example. Not as sweet as the nose. But there is still a caramel/burnt sugar edge to it, along with a sultana note.

Medium finish - quite sweet and fruity.

Edradours I've tried previously over the last three years have been the Caledonia 12yo, (very good), the basic 10yo, (run of the mill) and the 2003 port cask strength edition, (ridiculously overpriced and not very good IMO). I rate this one as the best of the lot. But only released in 50cl bottles.

Interesting review, always nice to get more depth in the recent jungle of red wine finishes that have cropped up. Will review the 16 yr old bruichladdich first growth cuvée D Pessac Léognan.

@markjedi1

Edradour is known for its finishes, bottles in the series ‘Straight from the Cask’, meaning this is single cask whisky at cask strength. This one is a challenging 57,2%, 12 years old and received a maturation in a hogshead for 10 years, before being re-racked for 18 monhts in a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine cask.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which means ‘the new castle of the pope’, is a famous village annex castle in the wine region of the Rhône. The wine is produced from a whole range of grapes. The most important ones are the Grenache Noir, Syrah and Cinsaut (red wijn), Grenach Blanc, Clairette Rose and Roussanne (white and rosé wine).

The wine is very prominent on the nose, insofar that you have to look for the whisky (the same happened with the Sauternes finish). And after a minute or two, I get some ‘dirty’, organic notes (cooked vegetables?), that are a bit off-putting. Adding a bit of water merely gives the nose a sour lining, something a little burned.

It’s less fierce than initially expected at 57,2%, and immediately turns wondrously sweet. I get some dark fruits such as raisins and maybe even figs. After the somewhat off-putting nose, this is a welcome change. The addition of water turns it a little bit sour. Different, sure, but not very nice.

The finish last very long, is nicely spiced, but drying and a little bitter, like the peels of chestnuts. Very oaky.

Again, the taste needs to make up for the nose, but barely succeeds.

@markjedi1: Nice review - I've tried some of the wine finishes from Edradour and have to say I'm not yet won over. They should be applauded for trying new things but I agree there's a somewhat off-putting overly dominant wine presence on the nose, making it seem a bit like Ribena (or Cassis in france) very much past its sell-by date!

I know I'm commenting on a three year old review here but I've just tried the 2002 vintage of this, (11yo) and it sounds a world away from this one. Very intriguing how much difference a few years can make, (either that or we have completely different taste buds).

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