Sauternes - too sweet?

There are loads of different wine cask now used to mature whisky, red ones seem to be more prominent as they add a darker colour.

Rayne Vigneau Barrel Room

Here I try Sauternes, a very sweet white desert wine, matured whiskies.

Sauternes is a very sweet desert wine from Bordeaux offering intense notes of honeyed apricot, butterscotch, caramel, coconut, mango, ginger, marmalade, and citrus themes, along with tropical fruit, honeysuckle, and toasted baking spices:

"Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the region of the same name in the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes wine is made from sémillon, sauvignon blanc, and muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavoured wines."

Sweet and unctuous but delightfully charming, the finest Sauternes typically express flavours of exotic dried tropical fruit, candied apricot, dried citrus peel, honey or ginger and a zesty beam of acidity. It's use as a cask to mature whisky has been increasing year on year, here I try four:

Dram	Tomatin Sauternes Edition 12yo	GlenAllachie 12yo Sauternes Wine Finish	Arran Sauternes Cask Finish	Mannochmore 2006 13yo [SMWS] 64.119
Characteristics	46% ABV Maturation 9 years ex-bourbon and nearly 3 years Sauternes	46% ABV Maturation 10 years ex-bourbon and nearly 2 years Sauternes	50% ABV Maturation 8 years ex-bourbon and undisclosed Sauternes finish	56.8% ABV Maturation 11 years ex-bourbon and nearly 2 years Sauternes
Distillery notes	Part of the French Collection. Distilled on 19th September 2008. This whisky brings a burst of peach and apricot on the nose, calmed by rich Manuka honey. The sweet honey continues on the palate accompanied by coconut and ginger. The finish is wonderfully sweet and fresh with a syrupy mouth feel indicative of the Sauternes wine that once occupied the cask.	Part of the Wine Cask Series, matured in American Oak Ex-Bourbon Barrels. Subsequently, the whisky underwent additional maturation for almost two years in Wine Barriques, imparting a distinctive twist onto the GlenAllachie spirit. Nose: Waves of heather honey, peaches and grapefruit, with hints of cinnamon and almonds. Taste: Heather honey, treacle and pineapple, with peaches, sweet grapefruit and cinnamon	This sweeter side of Arran Single Malt makes an ideal dessert dram with complementary notes of apricots, melon and honeysuckle. To achieve this rich partnership, our traditional Arran Single Malt is matured in oak casks for eight years and is then 'finished' in a selection of Sauternes wine casks. Nose: Honey sweetness and citrus Palate: Richly honeyed and backed with a lifting zestiness which slides into spice and zingy salt. Once the dram opens out, vanilla and sultana stand out followed by notes of toasted oak. Finish: Sweetness, Honey, Apricots, Melon, Honeysuckle.	After spending 11 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead this was transferred to a first fill sauternes barrique for the remainder of its maturation. Toasty cereal notes began to swarm around lavender and rose water as beeswax and honeycomb-coated Brazil nuts, toasted pine nuts and almonds. Then a sweet spice emerged from the oven as cinnamon and nutmeg mixed with marzipan on sponge cake and toasted fruit cake. A palate bound by rich spice and ginger spread over banana skins and liquorice before hard toffee merged with roasted chestnuts and espresso coffee. Water brought waxy textures on soft leather and antique wood as runny honey oozed over toasty cereals, ginger cake and rum and raisin ice cream. Now dark chocolate notes appeared among cigar boxes and a dusting of cocoa powder on buttered bread.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold, swirls leave a thin line on the glass which beads up slowly and falls as slow thin legs.	Pale gold, swirls leave a thin line on the glass which beads up slowly and falls as slow thin legs.	Very pale gold, swirls leave a thin line on the glass which beads up slowly and falls as quick thin legs.	Pale gold, swirls leave a thin line on the glass which beads up slowly and falls as slow thin legs.
Nose	Musty orchard fruit to start: apples, pears, apricots; some honey and a little white wine. There's hints of wet grass and a little citrus zest.	Fresh orchard fruit: apples, pears, apricots; there's some candyfloss, and honey. The fruit turns a little more tropical after a  while with dried pineapple and peaches.	Again fresh orchard fruit: apples, pears and apricots; but this one has a sweet orange note too. A little time and air turns the citrus to lemon. This is the first one with a hint of spice on the nose - some ginger.	Obviously higher ABV, this one comes across as a higher strength GlenAllachie with the candyfloss and tropical notes. There's also some marzipan and toasted teacake.
Palate	Thick sweet arrival, honey and lemon to start with the orchard fruit following on to coat the tongue. Ginger spice takes over as the liquid disappears leaving a dryness in the mouth asking you to try some more!	Thick syrupy arrival, overly sweet, then comes a burnt oak note - spicy and dry. There's some lemon zest and sweet pineapple, a little almond and then a peppery spice as the liquid disappears.	Another thick syrupy over sweet arrival, salted lemons and honey give an unusual salty / sweet note on the tongue. A few more sips and sour citrus adds to the complexity. Hints of the orchard fruit from the nose and some ginger spice.	Thick sweet arrival, not as sweet as the previous two but with a strange mint and peppery spice note. A little  of the orchard fruit from the nose. Then there's some liquorice and coffee notes on the tongue before it all turns dry and spicy. Very strange!
Finish	Lingering dry spice with a little sweetness.	Medium length dry and nutty with some citrus.	Long dry spicy finish with some sour citrus.	Long dry liquorice notes with some peppery spice.
Overall	Although the Arran didn't declare a duration for it's time in the Sauternes cask I can't imagine it's much different from the 2 or 3 years that the others spent. Both the Arran and GlenAllachie come across as too sweet for me - syrupy even - you might like that but I'm not keen. The Mannochmore was a very different beast - a little higher ABV than the other three but with some strange liquorice and coffee notes. The Sauternes finishes has had a big influence on the character of the last three adding huge sweet notes I'd not normally associate with those distilleries, the Tomatin had probably the least Sauternes influence and retained some of it's distillery character - the best of the bunch for me. But if you like super sweet whisky give them a try.

Many thanks to @WhiskyResource for the Mannochmore sample swap, check out his website and YouTube channel for some great reviews.