Bruichladdich 16 Cuvee D, Pessac Léognan, 2,134/12,000 46% abv.

In 2008, Laddie released their "The Bordeaux First Growth Series" which is based on a common theme of having laddie 16 year old bourbon barrel juice finish in barrels that previously held wine from the Great Châteaus for about 12 to 20 months depending on who you ask. The Great Châteaus are also known as First Growth, which is the highest rank of French wines in a system initiated by Emperor Napoléon. However, it is not clear how long the barrels held the wine. Moreover, some people say its unpeated distillate while a few others say its peated to 3 ppm, which is virtually unpeated. Cuvee D has laddie juice finished in Château Haut-Brion barrels.

Nose: sweet, raisins, dates, purple grapes, mesquite BBQ, light like skins, a nice sherry, after awhile I get vanilla.

Palate: very cool, initial palate is smooth, a little drying, mid palate is corn husks, vines, overdue sherry, close to red wine, some old wet steamed lotus leaves/expired sherry/tannic flavors, back palate has more vanilla, cake, hints lotus leaves at the end.
Finish: short, dry, viney, light toast.

This is quite flavorful. Seems more like a sherry cask, but it's a famous wine cask! The nose is quite nice, but the finish leaves much to be desired. Overall a good dram, full on the body, just lacking in everything else, which is unfortunate as I really like Haut-Brion. Had this at Malt Bar Barrel in Seoul, South Korea.

Grade: C+

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:361, 83 points

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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