Origin: Trentino Alto Adige (Italy)
Type: Italian Malt Whisky
Strength: 53.5%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Wine
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Puni (Ebensperger family)
Average price: € 150.00
Official website: www.puni.com
A newer version of the South Tyrolean distillery’s limited (1,300 bottles) cask strength series, the 2024 edition is once again a single malt (the third to date) aged for seven years in casks that previously held Pinot Grigio from the same area.
Tasting Notes
Fruit-driven nose, between white and tropical, a fruit salad of apple, pear, dried apricot, pineapple, lychee, grapefruit and yellow kiwi. Eucalyptus honey, marzipan, anise, and a sulfurous, slightly metallic note play second fiddle. The addition of water brings the wood and nutmeg to the fore, sweetening the flavors at the expense of the sulfur note, which ends up in the background. Vinous with style.
On the palate, the malt comes to the fore, with a good texture in the mouth and the warmth of cereal with cooked fruit (apple, pear, apricot), citrus (zest and candied orange), spices (ginger, anise, nutmeg), trifle. Marzipan, a dusting of cocoa, sweet licorice and a drop of mocha emerge, with candied fruit in the background and a hint of panettone. A vegetal and slightly (but just a touch) sulphurous note finishes the drink.
Medium length and slightly spicy aftertaste of malt, candied and baked fruit, vegetal notes, licorice.
Even if matured entirely in ex-wine casks, it is unusually well-balanced and elegant, the casks integrating perfectly with the distillate, giving a pleasant and full, structured and elegant dram. Perhaps only the strength is not fully centered, benefiting from the addition of water, but it remains one of the best whiskies to come out of the distillery.
Vote: 87/100