GLENFIDDICH 40 YEAR OLD

Description

Glenfiddich 40 Year Old is an exquisite single malt whisky created using the remnant vatting system. Each year, our Malt Master hand selects truly exceptional casks and marries them with the remnant of previous 40 year old vattings. This unique process results is a peerless single malt Scotch whisky of infinite richness and harmony. With only 600 bottles released worldwide each year, each vatting is eagerly anticipated by connoisseurs the world over. Previous releases of this masterpiece have received numerous prestigious industry awards and it is the only whisky to ever win the industry’s two most prestigious trophies in the same year. The quality and heritage of this whisky is reflected in the packaging. The uniquely shaped bottles, which have a thick glass base, are individually numbered, hand-signed, and encased in a luxury hand-stitched calf leather case, This luxurious package, complete with lock and key, comes with a matching leather bound book detailing the whisky’s unique history. Also included is a correspondingly numbered certificate that has been hand-signed by Peter Gordon and four of the distillery’s long-serving craftsmen, David Stewart, Don Ramsay, Eric Stephen and Dennis McBain. Glenfiddich 40 Year Old has an ABV of 45.8%.

Tasting Notes

Colour:
Highly polished mahogany. Greenish rim.

Nose:
Exotic and immediately complex. Fragrant yet savoury, deep woody notes balanced by surprising freshness. Like entering a country house in autumn: pot pourri, old leather, log fires, leaf mulch on the boots, beeswax polish. Then comes sesame, dried fruits, dried mint, bitter chocolate, treacle toffee. In time there’s flamed Seville orange peel (English marmalade), allspice and ancient solera palo cortado (from one of the finer sherry houses) and after half an hour a sweet chocolate. All of this is playing against a musky, woody note. Fascinating.

Palate
Medium to full bodied with tannic grip. Again the savoury note takes charge, this time with added menthol, black cherry, tobacco, dried strawberry and banana(!), raisin, rose petal. Then nuts come to the fore followed by a drying yet lively fungal smokiness. The tannins try to bite but there’s enough to balance.

Comment:
A remarkable whisky. Each time a small percentage of the previous vatting is kept back for use in the next, making this a type of Solera process.