Whisky from...? Italy 2

Our latest in the Whisky from...? series comes from Italy for the 2nd time, this one from the Puni distillery.

Puni

A recent trip to Italy allowed me to hunt out some Italian single malts and I was royally ripped off by a shop in Florence paying nearly twice the list price for this bottle. There were no prices marked, I think the owner just made it up as I was a tourist. So whatever you do don't visit this crappy place.

Puni distillery is located in Glorenza in the South Tyrol, it started distilling in 2012 with the first whiskies, Nova and Alba, released in 2015.

The distillery is a 13x13 meter red brick cube. Rye and wheat as well as the usual barley make up the mash bill in a 90+ hour fermentation in 5 local larch washbacks. A pair of Scottish made copper pot stills handle the distillation.

Lets see what they are like:

Unusual pot still shaped bottles

Distillery notes:

Thanks to its maturation in first-class, hand-picked Marsala Vergine barrels from sunny Sicily, PUNI VINA is dominated by a variety of flavours of Christmas stolen. Creamy walnuts and sweet sultanas envelop the palate and notes of stewed cherries with cinnamon, plums and orange peel round off the full-bodied character. 43% ABV

My thoughts:

Appearance: Light gold in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up quickly and fall as slow thin legs.

 

Nose: damp cardboard, dried fruit and marzipan to start but this is a little closed. Time and air offer honey, vanilla and some red wine. There's a little citrus and some chocolate hints.

Palate: Thick spicy arrival, very juicy but immediately drying. The marsala casks have had a huge impact here: dried fruit, berries, cherries and a little balsamic vinegar. Then everything goes dry and spicy. There's a faint metallic note here too. Seems a lot higher than it's 43% ABV

Finish: Sweet and spicy, very drying/

Overall: This is the 3rd Puni I've tried and they've been alright, nothing special, just a little unbalanced. This is a young spirit but it doesn't show though, maybe in the metallic note? The marsala casks have had a huge impact, I think it's full maturation rather than finish, dry tannic wine notes dominate there is fruit trying to get out but it's hard to find.