Arran Sauternes Cask Finish

The Sauternes Cask Finish sits within Arran's wine cask finishing programme, a stylistic thread the distillery has pursued continuously since the early 2000s. Founder Harold Currie and original distillery manager Gordon Mitchell pursued a wide range of finishing experiments during the distillery's first decade as a way of differentiating young spirit and developing house character, releasing Marsala, Madeira, Sauternes, Port, Amarone and Chianti finished expressions. This expression continues that tradition with a more focused selection process.

Initial maturation runs in first fill ex Bourbon barrels before transfer into Sauternes barriques previously used for the botrytised dessert wine produced in the Sauternes commune of Bordeaux. Sauternes wines develop concentrated sugar and glycerol through Botrytis cinerea fungal infection of the grapes, which leaves a distinctive residue in the oak. Bottling is at 50% without chill filtration and without added colour.

The Sauternes casks contribute residual sugar absorbed into the wood matrix, plus the aromatic terpenes and aldehydes that develop during botrytis affected fermentation, including phenethyl acetate, ethyl octanoate and the characteristic sotolon found in long aged Sauternes. The combination produces a honeyed sweetness layered with stone fruit and a floral apricot quality that the Bourbon underlay supports with vanilla and gentle oak spice.