Whisky Review: Glenmorangie Companta

This whisky is the latest (2014) release in Glenmorangie's series of limited edition whiskies that has included Astar, Finealta, Sonalta PX, Artein, and Ealanta. I'll be covering three of them this week in reverse chronological order of release date.

Companta is composed of two different sets of whisky finished in two different types of Côtes du Rhône Burgundy wine casks. See Josh's review at The Coopered Tot for all the details. The whisky is finally married together, proofed down to 46%, and bottled without chill filtration or coloring.

Thanks to MAO for this sample.

Glenmorangie Companta

Nose: red wine and toasted oak dominate, vanilla, raisin fudge, dried cherries, warm malt buried underneath, sandalwood incense, bubblegum/nougat, barrel char/wood smoke. After adding a few drops of water, the red wine and oak integrate and dominate to an even greater extent, the raisin notes become stronger and more dank, and some tropical fruit pops out.

Taste: sweet malt and wood sugars up front, sweeter wine, rose, and whipped cream/nougat notes in the middle, transitioning into thick oak tannins, tart raspberries, and red wine. After dilution, the flavors are flatter and less bright, while the malt, red wine, and oak fully integrate and provide a consistent set of flavors across the palate, but with more malt creaminess.

Finish: malt reasserts itself, overlaid with red wine and less aggressive oak, plus some sea salt

I can see where Bill Lumsden was trying to go with this and it is a well-constructed whisky. I found that the nose was significantly better than the palate, which felt simple by comparison. It also could have been tipped a little bit more towards letting the malt shine, but clearly that's not how he likes to put these things together. Ultimately, if you've enjoyed other Glenmorangie wine finishes, odds are that you'll enjoy this one. It's well-matured and the flavors are pleasant - they're just not my cup of tea. Either way, I'd say this is at least worth trying a pour if you can find it at a local bar, as an exercise in understanding red wine cask-finished whiskies.