Origin: Tuscany (Italy)
Type: Tuscan Malt Whisky
Strength: 47.7%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Vin Santo
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Chioccioli Altadonna S.r.l.
Average price: € 95.00
Official website: www.winestillery.it
Vote: 83/100
When wine runs in the family, there are two cases: either you embrace tradition without hesitation, or you follow your instinct to try different paths.
Enrico Chioccioli Altadonna, son of the oenologist Stefano Chioccioli, decided to combine the two. Initially aiming for a career in law, on a trip to the United States he started working in whiskey distilleries almost by chance, and that’s where the spark was born!
Soon we will publish an interview with Enrico to learn more about his story and that of the Winestillery project, founded in Chianti with his father and brother Niccolò, the first Tuscan artisanal distillery that fuses oenology and distillation, using local raw materials according to the ‘from the grain to the glass’ philosophy with a non-traditional approach in the production of gin, vermouth, vodka… and whisky.
Thanks to a special 500-litre still (Bacco), it is in 2020 that distillation begins from a mash of malts (barley, rye and wheat, strictly Italian), fermented naturally in terracotta amphorae for about six days, and aged in strictly Italian casks.
There are two fixed bottlings at the moment, plus a single cask made on the occasion of Velier Live, which you will soon see on these pages, starting with the one matured in small casks (caratelli) that contained vin santo.
Tasting notes
The nose is a riot of hazelnuts and nutmeg, an intense wave that soon opens up to wet cereals, red fruits (currants, raspberries), mandarin, sultanas in spirit, freshly cut wood. There is an underlying malt biscuit note and a general vinous impression. A little unripe.
The palate shows a good creaminess, in which the spicy notes (ginger, nutmeg, white pepper) stand out over the fruit, still red but with injections of cooked apple and pear, sponge cake, nuts (almonds, hazelnuts), orange marmalade, dark chocolate. At times an impression of sacher torte emerges.
Not very long finish of nutmeg, wood, red fruits, baked apple.
A whisky that is undoubtedly very young, evident above all in the nose and finish, but which in drinking plays some good personality cards, in which the work between casks and distilled grain leads to interesting and non-trivial results. For a wine maturation, a result that is by no means negligible.