
July 18, 2016

New Tomatin 1971 and compadre

There, in the midst of summer, when everyone’s busy quaffing mojitos or rosé-pamplemousse, Tomatin are launching a new series. It’s called the ‘Warehouse 6 Collection’, and they just issued the first release, no less than a vintage 1971. We’ll try it today, but first a worthy sparring-partner. Sadly no other 1971 Tomatin at hand, so let’s have a younger sherried one by a good house…

Tomatin 1988/2014 (53.7%, Malts of Scotland, sherry hogshead, cask #MoS 14026, 265 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: Extravagantly fruity. I’ve not often found this many peaches, blood oranges, and ripe (but not overripe) gooseberries in any whisky. These fruits are very fresh, so you’d think you’re actually wondering throughout an orchard. Or perhaps even some vineyard, since I also find grapes. Big golden muscat. But not wine as such. With water: even more grapes, and vine peaches, in all logic. Only a small amount of malty beerness in the background. Mouth (neat): really very fruity, it’s almost a fruit salad, or rather some kind of barrel-aged fruit cocktail since there are some peppery spices as well. Strawberries and pepper work well together, according to Hollywood. With water: a greenish tannicity starts to interfere, but it comes with some sweets and syrups, so balance is maintained. Finish: quite long, fresh, we’ve almost quaffed a good glass of muscat d’Alsace. Better than rosé-pamplemousse, I’m telling you. Comments: this one was very ‘Tomatin’, which could not be bad news. SGP:751 - 86 points.

Tomatin 1971/2016 (45.8%, OB, Warehouse 6 Collection, oloroso sherry cask, cask #30041, 252 bottles)

There’s something very smart written in the leaflet, ‘With patience comes reward’. It’s not a cheap bottle but that’s only the price of a full week in a five-star resort in Moldova (£2,500) and they did put a lot of effort into the presentation. Actually, spending some time in Moldova is something I’ve always wanted to do. Colour: deep gold. Nose: we’re visiting a high-class bodega in Jerez. It’s not that it noses just like sherry, it noses like a, eh, a bodega, with some old oak, many wines resting, and perhaps a little saltpetre. And there are raisins, cigarette tobacco, quite a lot of milk chocolate, praline, dried figs, and a rather precious spicy combination, not easy to describe. A little wine sauce, perhaps. Beef Bourguignon or something. It’s all extremely complex. Whiffs of hessian (hessian around the bungs, of course). Mouth: it does start with quite some cinnamon and a feeling of cedar wood, but after all, this is +/-45 years old whisky, so the oak did have to feel a bit. What’s perfect is that the wine sauce is back, and it came with prunes, black chocolate, cassis, black cherries, and this lovely wine-y sourness. Burgundy indeed, this is almost some Chambertin. Did you know that Napoléon used to ask all his troops to present arms whenever they were passing near the Chambertin? Whether he was with them or not? Mad man… Finish: medium, and even more ‘Chambertin’. Fermenting raisins, marc... Leafier aftertaste - that’s the stems. Comments: excellent pinot-noiry old wine. Great wines and great whiskies, same battle! SGP:561 - 91 points.

Check the index of all Tomatin I've tasted so far