These drams are part of a series celebrating Wine Geese, no not the birds, but named after the ‘Wild Geese’- soldiers who left Ireland to fight in the armies of continental Europe in the 16th -18th centuries some of whom ended up making wine in other countries. There are Irish descendants in most of the major wine producing countries of the world - France, Spain, United States, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. You can find out more about them here. Mitchell & Son have taken casks from two of these families 'Celebrating a shared Irish heritage' and finished their Green Spot Single Pot Still whiskey in them, or rather Irish Distillers have - it's all very confusing in the Irish whiskey scene!
Let's start at the beginning....
William Mitchell established a bakery and confectionery business in Dublin in 1805, in 1887 the business expanded into the wine and spirit trade. At the time, as in Scotland, it was common practice for merchants to purchase distillate in bulk and mature it themselves in their own casks which they had from their importation of wine and fortified wines from abroad. Mitchell's used whiskey from the Bow Street Distillery owned by Jameson's. They marked their casks of different ages with a spot of colored paint : blue for 7yo, green for 10yo, yellow for 12yo, and red for 15yo. Irish Distillers decided to move operations to Midleton in 1971 and closed its Dublin distilleries. Mitchell & Son's whiskey is now distilled and matured in Midleton, the green spot no longer refers to 10yo as the new whiskey is a NAS in the region of 7-10 years old.
And so to the vineyards :
Château Léoville Barton is named after Thomas Barton a merchant, originally from Curraghmore, who started a wine company in Bordeaux in 1725. He did a lot of trading back to his native Ireland. The vineyard has passed down through the family until the current owner Lilian Barton took over in 1978.
The Chateau Montelena story is a bit more modern, it's located in the Napa valley region of California, built in 1888 by Alfred Tubbs but stopped making wine during Prohibition. It passed through a few different owners as a private residence until 1968 when it was bought by Irish immigrant Jim Barrett, from Waterford. Jim replanted the vineyard and restored it to its former glory, wine production re-starting in 1972 and continuing to this day.
And on to the whiskey (at last I hear you say!) :
| Dram | Green Spot Château Léoville Barton | Green Spot Chateau Montelena |
| Characteristics | 46% ABV, NCF, Natural colour | 46% ABV, NCF, Natural colour |
| Distillery info | Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey initially matured in a traditional mix of ex-Oloroso sherry, new Bourbon and ex-Bourbon barrels, then transferred into ex-Bordeaux wine casks for between 12 and 24 months. | Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey initially matured in traditional sherry and bourbon casks, then finished for 12 months in French oak Zinfandel wine casks, from Napa Valley in California. |
| My thoughts: | ||
| Appearance |  | |
| Mid gold in the glass, swirls lead to slow thick legs. | Mid gold in the glass, swirls lead to slow thick legs. Difficult to tell the two apart! | |
| Nose | Loads of berries - strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, buttered bread. An interesting hint of musty second hand book shop and a dryness? | Milk chocolate, a little banana and some cherries. Hints of ginger and again the musty dryness. |
| Palate | Oily spicy arrival, ginger and chilli dominate. There's oatmeal alongside some pears and green apples. A lovely milk chocolate note leads to an immediate drying in the mouth. Yummy! | Lovely smooth buttery arrival with lots of honey and orchard fruit. There's a little bite of peppery spice on the tongue but no where near as much as the CLB. |
| Finish | Drying, fruity and slightly sweet. The berries from the nose come back and a lovely lingering ginger spice. | A lasting peppery spice with some honey sweetness - oak tannins give a slightly bitter drying effect. Nice! |
| Overall | Both really nice drams, assuming the new make and initial maturation is the same, if not similar, the difference between the finishing casks is interesting - the CLB is more fruity and spicy, the CM a little more refined and held back. They both share a lovely dryness that you get with some red wines, and when trying them both side by side my mouth is bone dry after 30ml of each. More and more distilleries are trying wine finishes for their whiskies, these may have a fancy story but don't be put off they are both really nice drams! | |
Many thanks to @WhiskeyCyclist for the sample swaps!
You can read my review of the 'standard' Spot whiskies here!
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