The output from the White Peak Distillery goes on! With new whiskies and explorations hitting the shelves every couple of months or so, the pace shows no sign of letting up and May 2024 saw the release of the first in their upcoming Wine Cask series: Amarone.
As the name suggested, this single malt whisky has been finished in oak barrels that previously held Amarone red wine. For this release, the signature White Peak lightly peated spirit has been initially matured in ex-Bourbon barrels, before being finished for 16 months in Amarone wine barriques sourced from J. Dias & CA (Porto, Portugal). Amarone is a renowned rich red wine from Northern Italy, known for its big flavours and “its unique Appassimento winemaking method”. (See details here).
As with all previous releases, there is no age attached to the whisky, just a focus on flavour (well… Provenance, Heritage and Flavour, as their slogan suggests) and this is being released as a small batch expression with just 662 bottles available – each bottle retailing around £75 GBP. The final whisky has been captured in their unique bottles at its natural colour, without chill-filtration, and at a hearty 54.1% ABV.
Nose
Quite a waxy and perfumed start with lots rich red fruits and a sweet floral note too. It is packed with rich juiciness actually, with just a little tartness behind it. Like strawberries and balsamic vinegar, cola cubes, and blackcurrant jam on toast. Beyond the fruity flavours there are the scents of oats, classic warehouse dunnage, and seeded batch. There’s a good oak note too. Maybe even a subtle matchstick sort of smell. And all of those disparate things just work together. Trust me.
Taste
The big red fruit flavours arrive first and bring a big red wine jammy-ness and touch of dark chocolate bitterness. Noticeable oak spice and profile build quite quickly with ginger, cinnamon, and clove spices all making an appearance. The peat smoke is very gentle and melds in with the oak spices and that cocoa-y bitterness.
Finish
A decent length of finish with red berries still lingering amongst some oaky red wine notes.
Verdict
A really nice collection of many delicious flavours and an exciting glimpse into the upcoming wine finish series.
Amarone wine is known for its big and rich flavours and Amarone cask finished whiskies are certainly starting to become more popular. From this whisky, I can see why. The cask is imparting decent red wine notes into the White Peak’s base bourbon-matured spirit that’s ready to absorb and enhance the wine cask’s flavours. That is also evidence in the whisky’s colour. We don’t mention the colour of a whisky too often on this site, but this whisky has such a nice red colour – especially after just 16 months in the cask.
It was noticeable that not only were the red fruit flavours really present in the whisky from the red wine cask maturation, but so too was the drying and oaky finish of a big red wine. It complemented the light peat smoke note really well.
Having had the privilege of tasting a few Wire Works whiskies now, I am familiar with the White Peaks approach to percentages and they don’t hold back on the ABV! Again, in this one the 54.1% ABV is barely noticeable for its balance with the oak flavours and spices. You know you’re getting some strength but not to the actual level you are getting.
Overall, a really rich and tasty whisky. And this is just the start for the wine cask series! With Madeira and Moscatel finishes soon to be joining the roster when they’re good and ready, things are going up and up for White Peak and their Wire Works Whisky.
M
Sample disclosure: This sample was received as part of a Wire Works Tweet Tasting event run by The Whisky Wire using #WireWorksWhisky. All notes are intended as an honest, fair, and independent review of the whisky, and not as a promotion. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.
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