Side by side : The Fisherman's Retreat Edition 8

I've been reviewing @FishRetreat releases for a while now - Jim McEwan selected Bruichladdich and Arran single casks. - this time they've gone a little different and released a a white wine Arran as a 50% bottling as well as a Cask Strength version.

Let's see how the compare?

The Fisherman's Retreat is nestled in the Twine Valley on the edge of the Pennine hills, 3 miles east of the town of Ramsbottom and around 15 miles north of Manchester. It's a family owned and run restaurant pub with a Whisky Shop on site, open since 2006 it stocks over 500 whiskies, they also sell online here!

I've reviewed a few of their limited edition bottlings here and the Edn 7 here. This time I'm looking at their Edition No. 8 which is Arran spirit matured in a 1st fill Yalumba Viognier White Wine Cask, a new one on me - so what do we know about them?

The Yalumba Winery was established in the Barossa Valley in South Australia in 1849 by Samuel Smith a gardener from England working for one of  the Barossa’s Valley's founding families.

Photos: Yalumba.com

He bought 80 acres of his own land in 1852, planted his own vineyards and released Yalumba’s first wine in 1853. Robert Hill-Smith, the fifth generation of the family, chairs the company’s board.

Viognier sells for around £10 a bottle offering aromatic, unoaked, refreshing white with lovely peach flavours, expertly crafted by the Yalumba team who specialises in the Viognier grape – in fact this was one of their first organically produced wines. Delicious with fish or poultry dishes.

OK, enough about the wine, let's try the whisky:

Bottler notes:

 

Our Edition 8 is a 7 year old single cask Arran, distilled in August '13 which has spent its life in a Yalumba Viognier white wine cask on the Isle of Arran. Bottled, non chill filtered, in February '21 with only 408 bottles produced at 50.0% and 48 bottles at Cask Strength 60.4% this is a very unique and limited single malt. 

What further adds to its uniqueness is that the tasting notes (shown below) where written by Jim McEwan who describes its taste as for one so young the spirit has enjoyed its time in this Yalumba cask. Young love, innocent and pure! 

Available now in the online shop with £10 off a bottle until the 7th March.

Dram	2013 7yo	2013 7yo Cask Strength
Characteristics	50% ABV 408 bottles	60.4% ABV 48 bottles
Distillery notes	Aromas – Seems more mature than 7 y/o on the elegant wine like nose. Lots of plump soft grapes sweet and succulent encased in the heart of the spirit and as it opens the nuttiness of the oak develops and together with the toasted sweetness of the malted barley it seems more like a 12 year old. Taste – On the palate it’s the quality of the distillate that emerges and together with the oak guides the taste buds into a crème caramel flavour which provides a stage on which the wine influence steals the show. This crispy sweet ambrosial malt delivers in a big way on the palate in harmony with oak, vanilla, plump ripe grapes all held in a cradle of fine oak.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, dark white wine? Swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass which beads up and falls as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, dark white wine? Swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass which very slowly beads up and falls as slow thin legs.
Nose	Very winey initially with grapes and  tropical fruit notes - peaches, pineapple and mango. Some pine and mint notes after a little time and air. A little salted honey adds to the complexity.	Similar to it's 50% brother - wine, grapes and tropical fruit just a little more intense. The salted honey note is a little more noticeable
Palate	Thick creamy arrival, instantly spicy with black pepper and chilli notes. Mouthcoating sweetness develops with the release of tropical fruit notes - pineapple, mango and peach from the nose. Hints of toffee and again that salted honey - yummy! There are some drying oak notes as the liquid disappears.	Even thicker that the 50% if that is possible? Again mouthcoating and sweet, more intense tropical fruit but less in the way of spice. Salted caramel, honey and dried pineapple add to the complexity. Again a little drying as the liquid disappears.
Finish	Long dry spice with honey and tropical fruit.	Again long and dry, but sweeter rather than spicy.
Overall	Wow - two really nice drams and really interesting to see the effect of the dilution on the 50% one. It's brought out spice notes that are hardly noticeable on its 60.4% bigger brother. Both are sweet with honey, toffee and tropical fruit notes, the Arran spirit showing through what must have been a fairly active cask to give such huge winey notes on the nose. If I had to choose I'd go for the lower ABV 50% bottle, the added spice notes give more complexity.

Many thanks to @FishRetreat for the samples!

Geeky stuff:

Fisherman's Retreat Releases
Edn	Distillery	Year	Age	Cask	ABV
8	Arran	2007	7yo	Yalumba Viognier White Wine	60.4% & 50%
7	Bruichladdich	2011	8yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	50.4%
6	Bruichladdich	2007	12yo	Rivesaltes French Wine	50.4%
5	Port Charlotte	2008	10yo	Château Haut-Brion	54%
4	Arran	2013	5yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	54%
3	Bruichladdich	2008	7yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	65%
2	Arran	1997	15yo	First fill Ex-Sherry Hogshead	53.8%
1	Bruichladdich	2007	5yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	59.6%