Taste Guide: Vouvray Wine Cask

The village of Vouvray, situated in Touraine to the east of the city of Tours, is the most important Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) for Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley. Although the little-known and rarely used grape variety Arbois is permitted, it is seldom cultivated.

Wine production in this area is highly variable and dependent on climate conditions. Cooler years promote the production of dry (sec) and sparkling wines, whilst a warmer, more favourable vintage favours the production of sweet Moelleux or Liquoreux wines, which are produced through noble rot in a similar way to the sweet dessert wines from Sauternes. Thanks to the naturally high acidity of Chenin blanc, Vouvrays from favourable vintages have immense ageing potential. Some wines remain enjoyable even at over 100 years of age, though more often a well-aged Vouvray reaches its peak after around 40 years.

In 2024, Kilchoman was able to acquire four Vouvray wine casks through “Les Amis du Cask” (as we reported).

‘Les Amis du Cask’ (‘The Friends of the Cask’) are a group of retirees 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 previous occasions. Their first such venture was for Edradour, and they met with great interest at Kilchoman too, 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 wineries 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.

Over the following weeks, 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.

In October 2025, “Les Amis du Cask” released the bottlings from their two casks. The two fresh bourbon barrels, which had been finished in the Vouvray casks for a good year, comprised one made from 100% Islay malt and one from “standard” 50 ppm Kilchoman. This allowed for some fascinating taste comparisons. As might be expected, the subtle influence of the Vouvray wine was particularly noticeable in the less peated 100 % Islay bottling.

Since May 2026, Kilchoman has been selling 10 cl samples from one of its two casks as so-called “Warehouse Exclusive”. Cask M2 had been filled on 29 August 2024 with the contents of Bourbon Barrel No. 1075/2018. The seven-year-old whisky therefore underwent a Vouvray cask finish period of 20 months.

Kilchoman Vouvray Cask Releases:

Release	Cask No.	Date Filled	Date Bottled	Maturation

Vouvray Cask Finish Sélectionné par Les Amis du Cask – Chaptre XXV -K1	858/2018	17.08.2018	07.08.2025	Finish: 1 year
Vouvray Cask Finish Sélectionné par Les Amis du Cask – Chaptre XXVI -M1	626/2018	24.06.2018	07.08.2025	Finish: 1 year
Vouvray Cask Finish – Warehouse Exclusive	1075/2018	09/2018	05/2026	Finish: 20 months