Origin: Trentino Alto Adige (Italy)
Type: Italian Malt Whisky
Strength: 48%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Scotch
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Puni (Ebensperger family)
Average price: € 90.00
Official website: www.puni.com
Vote: 85/100
2024 edition for this series that kind of goes back ‘to the roots’, recovering the ex-Islay casks of the first version, this time presented as the only maturation in the almost six and a half years spent resting Puni’s single malt.
2,830 bottles were produced in what remains for me the Italian distillery’s most interesting series, especially with this indirect peated edge.
Tasting notes
The nose is arboreal, with hints of woodland and pine forest (resin, pine needles, rosemary, mushrooms) combined with a fruity vein (rennet apple, kaiser pears, bergamot) with slight spicy inflections of nutmeg and cloves. Honey, custard and almond paste complete the bouquet, with vegetable smoke framing the aromas.
On the palate it has a nice creaminess, very oily, in which fruit and pastry elements (including baked apple, dried apricot, bergamot, chestnut honey, candied lemon peel, sweet liquorice and butter brioche), vegetal and woody notes (damp wood, aromatic herbs, moss, nuts) and a hint of spices and leather share the scene. The smoke remains in the background, a mineral and slightly iodine vein that becomes a dull brazier in length.
The finish is quite long and dry, of spices, nuts, citrus and vegetable notes, ash.
The single malt route suits Puni very well, it gains in body and structure even in a young ageing like this one, which manages to stand up to casks that are not quite gentle. Perhaps it lacks a bit of focus, the impressions are not fully integrated but work well together: time, I think, will work its magic.