This month Charles Maclean reviews the Glenmorangie Artein.

15 Years Old, Sassicaia Finished

As we know, Glenmorangie has long led the way in pioneering ‘wood finishing' (or ‘extra-maturation' as they call it) - maturing the spirit in American oak ex-Bourbon casks, then re-racking for the final years of maturation into casks which have previously contained other spirits or wines.

This expression is a triumph! Its inspiration is Dr. Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie's distinguished Head of Distilling and Whisky Creation, who has been planning it for seven years - since he bought a parcel of very rare barriques which formerly held the ‘Super-Tuscan' wine Sassicaia - arguably the most famous wine from Italy - in which he has ‘extra matured' the whisky.

Although Artein bears a 15 Years Old age statement, it is in fact a vatting of two parcels of Glenmorangie, one at 15 years old from 1996, the other, from 1990, at 21 years old, in proportion 60/40 - each of which have spent the final years of their maturation - three years for the 15YO and seven for the 21YO - in Sassicaia barriques.

Tuscany is described as ‘Italy's equivalent to Bordeaux', and the coastal region of Bolgheri is home to the great show-piece ‘Super-Tuscans', including Sassicaia - which is the only single estate in Italy to have its own DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). In a famous blind tasting of claret-style wines in 1978, judged by leading experts Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe and Clive Coates, Sassicaia came top out of 33 entries - although at this time it was an unknown vino tavolo.

The most expensive bottle of wine I ever bought was a Sassicaia. It was a 1988 and cost me £12.50. This vintage now achieves £3,000 a bottle at auction! Today I would not be able to afford even more recent vintages: the 2008 is listed at £125, the 2003 at £152.

The name ‘Sassicaia' derives from sasso, stone, which well describes the stony vineyards of the estate. This translates directly into Scots Gaelic as artein (pronounced ‘ar-chain'), and the name was chosen to reflect both the vineyard and the fact that the water used to make Glenmorangie is famously rich in minerals, rising through limestone and bubbling up, crystal clear, in the Tarlogie Spring, not far from the distillery.

Artein is the second expression in Glenmorangie's ‘Private Edition' series, which was begun in 2010 with the release of Finealta, which readers of these articles may recall was selected as World of Whiskies' ‘Malt of the Month' for September that year. Each of the ‘Private Editions' is limited to between three and five thousand 9-litre cases only, and once these have been drunk the whisky will not be repeated - so they are highly collectable.

More importantly, the flavour of this whisky, and its voluptuous texture, are exceptional. I can confidently recommend Glenmorangie Artein to you.