First Kilchoman Vouvray Wine Cask Finishes released by “Les Amis du Cask”
As we reported in June 2024, the Kilchoman distillery had managed to acquire four Vouvray wine casks through “Les Amis du Cask”. The commune of Vouvray, in Touraine, east of the city of Tours, is the most important Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) for Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley.
‘Les Amis du Cask’ (‘The Friends of the Cask’) are a group of retired people who, in 2018, turned their passion for single-cask bottlings into reality by founding a company to import and market very special whiskies. As they are from Vouvray and maintain good contacts with the local wineries, they have also sourced wine casks from the region for Scottish distilleries on two occasions. The first time was for Edradour, and they also met with great interest at Kilchoman, as Anthony Wills is always on the lookout for special casks and prefers direct contact with individual wineries.
The four casks for Kilchoman consist of two each from the wine estates Laurent Kraft (labelled K1 and K2) and Fabrice Maillet (labelled M1 and M2). These were not simply delivered by a haulage company; instead, ‘Les Amis du Cask’ managed to arrange for the famous sailing ship ‘Le Phoenix’ – known from numerous film and television productions, from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ to ‘Outlander’ – to take the casks on board during a voyage to Northern Ireland and make a stopover on Islay.
The casks were loaded onto ‘Le Phoenix’ on 18 June 2024 in Port Haliguen, Quiberon, and arrived in Port Ellen on 25 June, where Kilchoman’s production director, Robin Bignal, collected them.
In the weeks that followed, the four casks were used at Kilchoman for the finishing of ex-bourbon barrels. Two of the casks (M1 and K1) were filled for “Les Amis du Cask”, whilst the other two remained at Kilchoman’s disposal.
‘Les Amis du Cask’ have now released the bottlings from their two casks. The two fresh 2018 bourbon barrels, which had been finished for a good year in the Vouvray casks, comprised one with 100% Islay malt and one with ‘standard’ 50 ppm Kilchoman. This allows for fascinating flavour comparisons. As one might expect, the subtle influence of the Vouvray wine is particularly noticeable in the less peated 100% Islay bottling.
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Here are the details of the two bottlings:
Kilchoman Vouvray Cask Finish Sélectionné par Les Amis du Cask – Chaptre XXV – K1
Cask No.: 858/2018
Cask type: 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel, Vouvray Wine Cask Finish
Date Filled: 17.8.2018
Date Bottled: 7.8.2025
Age: 6 yo
Strength: 53,0 % abv
Level of phenols in malted barley: 50 ppm
Number of bottles: 266
Bottle volume: 0,7 l
Bottle Code: SC 07/08/25 18/858
GTIN: 5 060210 708924
Market: France
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Kilchoman Vouvray Cask Finish Sélectionné par Les Amis du Cask – Chaptre XXVI – M1
Cask No.: 626/2018
Cask type: 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel, Vouvray Wine Cask Finish
Date Filled: 24.6.2018
Date Bottled: 7.8.2025
Age: 7 yo
Strength: 52,5 % abv
Level of phenols in malted barley: approx. 20 ppm
Number of bottles: 268
Bottle volume: 0,7 l
Bottle Code: SC 07/08/25 18/626
GTIN: 5 060210 708931
Market: France
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