This wine cask-matured (not merely finished) Springbank was bottled back in 2016, and was the second release in the series of limited bottlings that replaced the older "Wood Finish" range of Springbanks, Longrows and Hazelburn single malts - all produced by Springbank distillery - that featured the old hand-written style brown labels. The first of the new series in the updated packaging was the 17-year old Sherry Wood, which hit European shelves back in mid-2015. Interestingly though, while the older versions that they replaced were almost all merely finished in different cask types, these revamped bottlings have instead all been fully matured. From the aforementioned Sherry Wood 17, to the 12-year old Burgundy that we're looking at today, to the delicious 14-year old Bourbon Wood, to last year's 15-year old Rum Wood - which only recently arrived in Australia - they've all been fully-matured in their respective cask types. While the Sherry and Bourbon releases used a mix of first- and re-fill casks, both the Rum Wood and this Burgundy expression were matured only in first-fill casks. So far, the 14-year old Bourbon Wood has been my pick of these more recent releases, but that could certainly change with this review! I was actually lucky enough to try this whisky a couple of times when it finally landed in Australia, and it was extremely impressive. But aside from the initial pour when I cracked this bottle a few weeks ago, it's been a couple of years since I last looked at it properly.
In the grand scheme of things, it's still not a particularly common thing to find single malt Scotch whiskies that are fully matured in wine casks. Which is difficult to relate to here in Australia, where almost every local distillery relies on them very heavily - the overall results of which can be a mixed bag. Even the more adventurous and mould-breaking Scottish distilleries such as Bruichladdich and of course the more divisive Springbank will more often use wine casks only for finishing, or they will mix / marry or 'vat' the wine cask-matured spirit in with other cask types - particularly in Bruichladdich's case. There are exceptions of course, and the balance does seem to be changing - partly due to the rising costs of sherry casks, no doubt - but they're still in the minority, particularly when you're talking production volumes. Springbank have never been afraid to try something different. As one of Campbeltown's three distilleries, and one of the few remaining Scottish distilleries that is privately owned, they've always seemed to represent a mix of both tradition and unconventional-ism. Not to the same extreme as Bruichladdich perhaps, but over the years they've offered a huge variety of different cask finishes and barley sources - and it's all floor-malted at the distillery, remember. In this case with their heavier, more robust and lightly-peated namesake spirit there was never any real danger of these wine casks being allowed to go too far. Instead they've worked brilliantly with said spirit, which by the way is also distilled 2.5-times through the distillery's rather complex system of three stills, including the direct-fired wash still (the first still) and the worm tub condenser-equipped first spirit still (the second still in the series).
Burgundy wines, as the name suggests, hail from the Burgundy region of Eastern France, but it's more of a general regional term - Pinot Noir is the main type of red wine that is produced in the region, although they also produce Chardonnay and Chablis white wines. In this case the casks used held red wine, so we can be fairly certain that they were of the Pinot Noir variety, which is a dry red wine that isn't quite as heavy or tannic as the heavier types such as Syrah / Shiraz. As mentioned above this Springbank spent 12 years in those first-fill Burgundy red wine casks, and was then bottled at a cask strength of 53.5% ABV without any chill filtration or added colouring - Springbank doesn't believe in any of that nonsense, thankfully. There were 10,260 bottles of this expression released worldwide, which may sound like a lot, but it really isn't - especially for us down under where Australia is generally the last to receive its tiny allocations. Obviously being bottled in 2016 means it sold out long ago, since none of these limited release Springbanks last very long anyway. With the exception of the 17-year old Sherry Wood that I mentioned above, which seemed to hang around for quite a while - probably because of high local pricing. This 12-year old Burgundy was much more reasonably priced at around $160 AUD on release, and it can still be found at auction. And - spoiler alert - it's well worth the effort of tracking down. Time for a dram, I think!
Springbank 12-year old Burgundy, 53.5%. Campbeltown, Scotland.
Lightly peated, 2.5-times distilled. Distilled 11/2003, fully-matured in first-fill Burgundy red wine casks, bottled 05/2016. Non-chill filtered, naturally coloured. 10,260 bottles.
Colour: Amber.
Nose: Dirty dunnage warehouses, a chalky minerality, some sweet berries and a few sour cherries. Some sweetened smooth peanut butter and chocolate, plus aniseed and black pepper. Raspberry jube jellies / lollies, musty & sweet red grapes and a dry, soft earthy peat. Spearmint and creamy caramel added with more time.
Texture: Medium weight, oily, rich & complex. Dirty (that's a good thing!), funky & sweet. No heat at all, very mellow.
Taste: A good dose of Springbank's dirty dunnage warehouse "funk", black pepper, creamy caramel and more musty red grapes and sweet berries. That chalky minerality again, plus a little toasted oak and soft, earthy, dry peat in the background.
Finish: Medium-long length, dirty & funky. Black pepper and aniseed carry through, then those raspberry lollies / jellies, and caramel fudge. That dry earthy peat and dunnage warehouse / farmyard-y musty funk underneath.
Score: 4 out of 5. Almost a 4.5 in fact.
Notes: Excellent stuff. More please! Without doubt my favourite wine cask-matured / finished Campbeltown malt that I've tried to date. Far more balanced than the 14-year old Longrow Burgundy and 12-year old Springbank Claret Wood if you ask me - there's better harmony between cask & spirit here, with more distillery character left intact. In fact I'd say this Springbank could be a lesson in how to do a wine cask maturation well, and it's a great example of what they can do when carefully managed and paired with a suitably robust spirit. The volume & complexity of flavour here are excellent, but the whole package is very approachable, and it's not as 'confronting' as the "regular" Springbank 12-year old Cask Strength bottlings, so it'd be more suitable than those are to the occasional Campbeltown drinkers that are yet to take the full head-first plunge into the deep end. That said, there's still more than enough flavour and character in this 12-year old Burgundy to keep the die-hard Springbank fans (guilty) more than happy.
I'd have to put it on par with the 14-year old Bourbon Wood that I mentioned above, which I rated very highly. Certainly should've bought myself two of these! But that's almost always the case, and in a way that's also part of the fun. Cheers!
In the grand scheme of things, it's still not a particularly common thing to find single malt Scotch whiskies that are fully matured in wine casks. Which is difficult to relate to here in Australia, where almost every local distillery relies on them very heavily - the overall results of which can be a mixed bag. Even the more adventurous and mould-breaking Scottish distilleries such as Bruichladdich and of course the more divisive Springbank will more often use wine casks only for finishing, or they will mix / marry or 'vat' the wine cask-matured spirit in with other cask types - particularly in Bruichladdich's case. There are exceptions of course, and the balance does seem to be changing - partly due to the rising costs of sherry casks, no doubt - but they're still in the minority, particularly when you're talking production volumes. Springbank have never been afraid to try something different. As one of Campbeltown's three distilleries, and one of the few remaining Scottish distilleries that is privately owned, they've always seemed to represent a mix of both tradition and unconventional-ism. Not to the same extreme as Bruichladdich perhaps, but over the years they've offered a huge variety of different cask finishes and barley sources - and it's all floor-malted at the distillery, remember. In this case with their heavier, more robust and lightly-peated namesake spirit there was never any real danger of these wine casks being allowed to go too far. Instead they've worked brilliantly with said spirit, which by the way is also distilled 2.5-times through the distillery's rather complex system of three stills, including the direct-fired wash still (the first still) and the worm tub condenser-equipped first spirit still (the second still in the series).
Burgundy wines, as the name suggests, hail from the Burgundy region of Eastern France, but it's more of a general regional term - Pinot Noir is the main type of red wine that is produced in the region, although they also produce Chardonnay and Chablis white wines. In this case the casks used held red wine, so we can be fairly certain that they were of the Pinot Noir variety, which is a dry red wine that isn't quite as heavy or tannic as the heavier types such as Syrah / Shiraz. As mentioned above this Springbank spent 12 years in those first-fill Burgundy red wine casks, and was then bottled at a cask strength of 53.5% ABV without any chill filtration or added colouring - Springbank doesn't believe in any of that nonsense, thankfully. There were 10,260 bottles of this expression released worldwide, which may sound like a lot, but it really isn't - especially for us down under where Australia is generally the last to receive its tiny allocations. Obviously being bottled in 2016 means it sold out long ago, since none of these limited release Springbanks last very long anyway. With the exception of the 17-year old Sherry Wood that I mentioned above, which seemed to hang around for quite a while - probably because of high local pricing. This 12-year old Burgundy was much more reasonably priced at around $160 AUD on release, and it can still be found at auction. And - spoiler alert - it's well worth the effort of tracking down. Time for a dram, I think!
Lightly peated, 2.5-times distilled. Distilled 11/2003, fully-matured in first-fill Burgundy red wine casks, bottled 05/2016. Non-chill filtered, naturally coloured. 10,260 bottles.
Colour: Amber.
Nose: Dirty dunnage warehouses, a chalky minerality, some sweet berries and a few sour cherries. Some sweetened smooth peanut butter and chocolate, plus aniseed and black pepper. Raspberry jube jellies / lollies, musty & sweet red grapes and a dry, soft earthy peat. Spearmint and creamy caramel added with more time.
Texture: Medium weight, oily, rich & complex. Dirty (that's a good thing!), funky & sweet. No heat at all, very mellow.
Taste: A good dose of Springbank's dirty dunnage warehouse "funk", black pepper, creamy caramel and more musty red grapes and sweet berries. That chalky minerality again, plus a little toasted oak and soft, earthy, dry peat in the background.
Finish: Medium-long length, dirty & funky. Black pepper and aniseed carry through, then those raspberry lollies / jellies, and caramel fudge. That dry earthy peat and dunnage warehouse / farmyard-y musty funk underneath.
Score: 4 out of 5. Almost a 4.5 in fact.
Notes: Excellent stuff. More please! Without doubt my favourite wine cask-matured / finished Campbeltown malt that I've tried to date. Far more balanced than the 14-year old Longrow Burgundy and 12-year old Springbank Claret Wood if you ask me - there's better harmony between cask & spirit here, with more distillery character left intact. In fact I'd say this Springbank could be a lesson in how to do a wine cask maturation well, and it's a great example of what they can do when carefully managed and paired with a suitably robust spirit. The volume & complexity of flavour here are excellent, but the whole package is very approachable, and it's not as 'confronting' as the "regular" Springbank 12-year old Cask Strength bottlings, so it'd be more suitable than those are to the occasional Campbeltown drinkers that are yet to take the full head-first plunge into the deep end. That said, there's still more than enough flavour and character in this 12-year old Burgundy to keep the die-hard Springbank fans (guilty) more than happy.
I'd have to put it on par with the 14-year old Bourbon Wood that I mentioned above, which I rated very highly. Certainly should've bought myself two of these! But that's almost always the case, and in a way that's also part of the fun. Cheers!
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