Arran Sauternes Cask

Limited Edition Single Cask Malt at Arran releases individual casks showing standout character as single bottlings rather than vatting them into the broader range. Sauternes single cask releases from the early 2000s drew on casks Arran had been filling experimentally since the late 1990s, when the distillery began acquiring barriques from the Sauternes region of Bordeaux for trial finishing programmes. This single cask release represents the unfiltered character of one specific Sauternes cask parcel.

The spirit was matured at Lochranza in a Sauternes barrique previously used for the botrytised dessert wine of the Sauternes commune. Sauternes barriques are typically French oak of fine grain, with the wine itself produced from grapes affected by Botrytis cinerea, the noble rot that concentrates sugars and develops distinctive aromatic compounds. Bottled at 56.2% reflecting the natural cask strength, with no chill filtration and no added colour.

Sauternes cask residue carries the specific botrytis profile: elevated concentrations of glycerol, the lactone sotolon, and the aromatic phenethyl acetate and ethyl octanoate developed during noble rot affected fermentation. The single cask presentation preserves the specific intensity of this profile at the level the individual cask delivered, without dilution from vatting. French oak as the substrate contributes finer grained tannin and a higher trans lactone ratio compared to American oak.