Glenfiddich’s Grand series is range of expensive old expressions, often from cask types that are less common for the distillery. We tried the Glenfiddich Grand Cru a few years ago, which was finished in ‘Champagne’ wine casks.
The latest release is this Grand Château. After 22 years in ex-bourbon casks, this whisky rested an extra 9 years in Bordeaux red wine casks. That’s a first for Glenfiddich, too bad they’re not telling us which château exactly. Nine years is a proper second maturation of course, not just a short finish.
Glenfiddich 31 yo ‘Grand Château’ (47,6%, OB 2024, Bordeaux red wine finish)
Nose: easy to pick up the wine, with some mustiness. Poached pears, ripe plums and blackberries with a hint of glazed cherries. Then nutmeg, a light nutty sweetness, as well as some burnt blueberry cake with cocoa nibs, or toasted brioche. Whiffs of bittersweet herbs as well. Underneath I’m picking up a sweeter layer of apricot jam and ripe pineapple. However the fruits don’t get to shine under the wine.
Mouth: it reminds me of the first wave of wine finishes, back in the early 2000s. Blackberries, cherries and blood oranges mixed with a tannic dryness, bitter chocolate and also a hint of sulphur. Spiced honey, some liquorice. Later also hazelnuts, cinnamon buns and plain hints of mulled wine.
Finish: medium to long, with a firm hint of (European) oak spice, raisins, red apples and cocoa. Still a clear savoury hint.
I’m sure the original whisky was better before the Bordeaux treatment. Quite unnecessary, and given the price, there are many Glenfiddichs around that I find a lot better and a lot more typical. Available from The Whisky Exchange for instance.
The hard-earned money effect
This is a good opportunity to mention what I’d call the hard-earned money effect. If you look for comments on this Glenfiddich, most of them will be fairly positive (even though a couple of them are certainly more negative than my review). I find this strange because it’s such an outlier in terms of the distillery style.
I have the benefit of being offered a lot of whiskies without having to pay for them (although I must add I did order this sample myself from a shop). People often argue that you’re inclined to be more positive towards a whisky because you got a free sample. I’m not saying this isn’t a pitfall but I also notice the opposite effect: when people buy a very expensive bottle with their own hard-earned money, they are also inclined to find it better than it really is. Simply because it feels bad to admit to themselves that buying it was a mistake.
My point is that sometimes it’s also liberating to be able to assess a whisky objectively without having to take the price of a full bottle into account. Thanks again to shops that put an effort in making available samples!
Now I understand that some people will love a red wine cask, whereas I have a natural aversion to these casks. So fair enough, we may simply agree to disagree on the enjoyment.