Glenfiddich Age of Discovery Red Wine Cask 19 Year

I have finally tasted the three Age Of Discovery whiskies from Glenfiddich and i can now tell you, in my humble subjective opinion, the Madeira Cask one is the best, this Red Wine Cask is the worst of the 3, without being bad at all, it is actually very enjoyable. Age Of Discovery is a series of 19yo whiskies, released sometime ago by Glenfiddich, each one with a lovely story about past centuries and discoveries that changed the world. The Red Wine Cask one, its made to honour the HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin to South America (actually to Ecuador's Galapagos Islands!) where he developed his theory of the evolution of the species. Bottled at 40%abv, this whisky has a copper color, finished in south american red wine casks. On the nose, it has all the notes from a winey profile. Grapes, prefumed Tobacco and Chocolate. Very spicy, like some grassy clove spice. Chocolate cake. After a first sip, it revealed lemon, some citrus note that resembles a cheap taxi air freshener; and again this vanilla / chocolate cake note. Very appealing. Red apples. Very winey. On the palate, it is very light and very easy drinkable. Red fruits: red apples and strawberries. Very safe, but nice. Aftertaste is all about wine, tobacco and red fruits. It feels like having a chilean red wine. Overall this is a tasty, very light whisky, which will be highly praised amongst wine lovers, but surely feels dim for hardcore whisky enthusiasts. It is like having a fun red fruits juice. My score for it is a fair 87/100, which reflects the lightness of Glenfiddich spirits.

Right it's been a busy week on the whiskey front. After several segways I'm back on my 100 step programme...no. 2 of my sample set...the AA programme comes to mind when I hear about alcohol and steps being associated but my programme has many more steps and the 12th one definitely won't involve me being sober! Anyhow to the whiskey. Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon casks are used on this one.Do I like it..yes..is it my favourite Glenfiddich to date definitely (although that's a low bar). As Cask Strength Joe said "where is the wine"? Then eventually after drinking with food (maybe it's the satay sauce?) I finally get the wine hit..I often forget that whiskey like wine often needs a bit of food to help the palate get the flavour to come through. I was about to say I definitely see it come through in the colour as well but there it goes.. caramel colouring...and why the hell would you chill filter such an expensive whiskey. Bit of spice, slight grapefruit bitterness, oak, toffee, plum. Hmm rating is hard.. this is a $120USD whisky. Is it worth it? Well I sure wouldn't pay it. I think 4 on merit... value for money drags it down to 3.5. I'll leave it at 4...but just

Nose: floral, sweet dark fruits and roasted nuts Palate: oily with red fruits and honey Finish: short-medium Overall: For the most part this is a solid whisky. The red wine finish is integrated well throughout. The nose is the best part - interesting and packed with fruits. The only real drawbacks are a finish with little to it and an abv that could definitely have been higher.

n: smokey, slightly peat, pear, honey, vanilla p:smokey, mild honey sweetness, oaky f: long, oaky, smokey overall: doea not taste like a wine cask, nosing is smokey but does not have hints of grape or sour. nose like a boubon caskVery strong and long oaky taste.

Personally, the aging in Red wine casks didn't do it for me. The tastes i found were hard to point. On the nose, there was a bit of red wine, which was completely gone while tasting. Personally, this is placed 3 out of 3 in the Age of Discovery collection

Great whisky, but where's the red wine? I was not expecting something this floral and herbaceous, with a touch of smoke. The additional notes of vanilla and honey really made this one a pleasure to enjoy, but again... where's the red wine?