Taste Guide: Madeira Cask
Madeira wine from the Portuguese island of the same name in the Atlantic Ocean belongs to the group of fortified wines, i.e. wines mixed with brandy, of which Sherry and Port wine are further well-known examples.
In the case of Madeira, the fermentation process is interrupted by addition of neutral grape spirit with 96% abv for reasons of better preservation, similar to Port wine.
According to tradition, Portuguese sailors reported that the wine changed for the better after long voyages through the tropics. From then on, this transport was deliberately carried out. Selected wines in relatively small casks made the torna viagem, the voyage to the Portuguese overseas provinces, which particularly helped the aging process, known as Madeirization.
Nowadays, Madeira casks are no longer transported by ship to the tropics, but the caramelizing effect of heat, which is so crucial for the typical Madeira taste, is achieved by one of two production methods:
1. the classic canteiro method, which takes at least two years and involves the fortified young Madeira being exposed to the heat in wooden cask directly under the corrugated iron roofs of the adegas. This method is rarely used today, not only because of the particularly high alcohol loss of the wooden casks, a phenomenon that we whisky lovers know only too well. The Canteiro wines may be sold after three years at the earliest, calculated from January 1 of the year following the harvest. Further maturation takes place in oak casks. Most of the wines are blended.
2. The estufagem method, which takes at least three months. Here, the wine is heated to 45 to 50°C in stainless steel ore concrete tanks with little loss. After that, it is left to rest for three months (estágio). The wines may never be bottled and sold before October 31 of the second year after the harvest.
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1. Kilchoman Madeira Cask Releases – A brief history
On February 11, 2010, Kilchoman filled a few Madeira casks (nos. 65 – 70/2010) with new make spirit on an “experimental basis” for the first time in its history.
The first Madeira Cask Release by Kilchoman was released on 1 December 2014 exclusively for members of the Kilchoman Club. Two of the above-mentioned Madeira casks had been selected for this 3rd Club Release.
Anthony Wills wrote about this release: »We filled a small number of Madeira casks in early 2010 as a bit of an experiment and we are very happy with the results; the strong, robust Madeira maturation has certainly made its presence felt, that said the spirit retains a lot of the classic Kilchoman characteristics.
I wanted to offer our members something they wouldn’t have tried from us before. It’s a shame we couldn’t have made more bottles available but we need to retain some stock for future releases.«
The first Madeira Cask Matured Limited Release followed a year later on 5 October 2015. Distilled at the beginning of 2011, the whisky was matured in 17 Madeira casks for over 4 years. Bottled were 6,100 bottles with an alcohol content of 50% abv.
Anthony Wills wrote: »This release is a break from the norm for us, it represents a bit of an experiment with full maturation rather than simply finishing whisky in casks like Madeira. Full maturation means that the impact of the cask is that much greater, the challenge is to ensure the whisky remains balanced and the influence of the Madeira cask is integrated with that of the Kilchoman spirit.«
Since 2018, Madeira single cask bottlings have been released relatively regularly for various countries. These were mostly Madeira Finishings with different Madeira finishing periods ranging from 6 weeks to 2 years, but some fully matured ones were also included. A good thirty bottlings have been released worldwide to date, which allow Kilchoman aficionados to very well understand the Madeira cask influence on the maturation process.
Several bottlings with Madeira cask content have also appeared within the Small Batch Series for selected markets, the concept of which is known to illustrate the influence of different “experimental” cask types on Kilchoman whisky.
Finally, in March 2022, the second Madeira Cask Matured Limited Release followed with an edition of 17,000 bottles. This bottling was supposed to be released in autumn 2021, but due to a shortage of empty Kilchoman bottles, the release had to be postponed to the beginning of 2022 – with the exception of some markets (e.g. Sweden), which had already been supplied before the bottle problem.
This second Kilchoman Madeira Cask Matured Release is a vatting of 46 fresh Madeira Hogsheads, in which the whisky distilled in May 2016 could mature for more than 5 years.
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2. Crème brûlée with orange peel or What does Kilchoman whisky taste like when matured in a Madeira cask?
The flavours typical of a Madeira wine, obtained by caramelising some of the sugars it contains, can also be clearly detected in whiskies that have been matured or finished in Madeira casks.
Burnt sugar, caramel, vanilla are the first noticeable olfactory and gustatory impressions, coupled with a subtle note of orange peel and, quite early on in the maturation process, oak wood tones. In my opinion, ‘crème brûlée with orange peel’ is a handy way to describe the taste impressions. In addition, there are more or less noticeable notes of red fruits, blackberries and a certain spiciness, depending on the bottling. As is typical for a Kilchoman whisky, there are also distinctive peat smoke notes, although it is noticeable that these recede somewhat after a few years of maturation in Madeira casks. The typical flavours of Kilchoman New Make (cooked yellow fruits, malt, citrus) recede into the background depending on the length of maturation or finishing. Madeira casks are quite dominant in this respect, similar to sherry or port casks, and therefore the maturing distillate needs to be tasted more frequently than with bourbon casks, for example, if you want to achieve a balanced whisky and not a ‘sherry bomb’ or, in this case, a ‘Madeira bomb’.
Our Kilchoman benchmark whiskies for the typical Madeira influence are the first Madeira Cask Matured Limited Release from 2015 for a full maturation and the Madeira Single Cask Finish 768/2011 for WHIZITA for a finishing.
You should definitely also try the Madeira Single Cask Full maturation for Brühler Whiskyhaus (cask no. 765/2015), not only because at 9 years old it is one of the oldest fully matured Madeiras currently available, but also because it is a 100% Islay whisky. The lower peat content allows the typical Kilchoman fruitiness to shine through more clearly, making this whisky seem less Madeira-toned than, for example, the two-year finish of WHIZITA, but significantly more complex.
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