Whisky Meets Wine in Longrow's Gaja Barolo Bottling

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Jun 13th 2008 at 4:02PM

We admit we've never been troubled by the dilemma of choosing between Scotch and wine - we just have both. Usually not in the same glass, however; until a bottle of Longrow Gaja Barolo showed up. The 7-year-old single malt from Springbank, one of Scotland's most renowned distilling dynasties, is matured in bourbon casks for five years then finished for a year-and-a-half in Barolo wine casks from Angelo Gaja's famed vineyard in Piemonte, founded in 1859.

Trying this experiment with a heavily peated Campbeltown malt like Longrow might seem counterintuitive, but in fact the smokiness keeps the spirit from being overpowered by the grape. The confluence of flavors is nothing short of symphonic, plus at 111.6-proof it packs all the authentic muscle of a cask strength bottling. Definitely one the very best single malts we've tasted since the last time we were actually in Scotland.

[via Men.Style]

Gallery: Longrow & Gaja

Tags: Barolo, Campbeltown, Gaja, Italy, Scotch whisky, ScotchWhisky, Scotland, Single malt, SingleMalt, Wine

Filed under: Spirits

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Remy Jun 14th 2008 6:22PM

Those bottlings of whisky in wine barrels expand on a great tradition of finishing in used wood barrels of port, madeira or sherry.

A few years ago, I had a whiff of a Glenmorangie 21 years old bottling finished in a barrel of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the most prestigious of all Burgundy domaines. At 160$ a dram, I decided I could only afford to smell it. I can still remember the amazingly subtle and complex aromas.

Remy
The Wine Case