Our journey into whisky lechery continues with the Octomore Comus Edition 04.2 - 167 PPM / Aged 5 years, paired with the Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes 2010 Vintage.
The Back Story!
It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon and we were enjoying a little down time sipping on the Octomore Comus Edition 04.2 while watching a replay of Liverpool FC get out of jail against Leicester 2-1 in the English Premier League (in added time of course). Elated with the result, the old light bulb flashed off in our heads, which is happening more often these days to the detriment of our wallets. But still, we hatched a plan…….
Why not pilfer a little something from my quaint, wee, wine cellar going by the name ‘Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes 2010 Vintage’, to pair with the Octomore Comus 04.2
All you French-wine purists are probably shaking your heads right now at our audacity, nauseous on the fact that a 2010 vintage of Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes is way too young to be opened, considering that if cellared correctly, the layers of complexity broaden, even after 50-100 long, sleepy years. But I’ll say this…… we have a small collection of older vintages, and just couldn’t bring ourselves to opening one (yet) for this pairing, and we’re also pretty much wine neophytes, and just like our whisky expressions, bottles tend to get consumed more often than not around here. 😉….. So, the 2010 it was!
A little background on Chateau d’Yquem
Château d'Yquem is a ‘Premier cru-superior’ wine from the Sauternes, Gironde region in the southern part of the Bordeaux vineyards in France. In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, Château d'Yquem was the only Sauternes given this rating, an acknowledgment of the prestige over all other wines of its type. Its success is part geographical from the site’s susceptibility to attack by ‘Noble Rot’, which is better known in wine circles as Botrytis cinerea (a mold that causes fruit rot in many fruit plants including grapes, which is responsible for the production of some of the world's finest, sweet white wines). Wines from Château d'Yquem are identified for their concentration, complexity and sweetness, which is balanced by relatively high acidity. Under proper conditions, a bottle can keep for over 100 years, where the fruity identity gradually fades and integrates with more complex secondary and tertiary flavours.
Why pair the Octomore Comus with the ‘Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes’ expression?
That’s where it gets interesting, because the Octomore Comus 04.2 by Bruichladdich (released in 2012) and named after the son of Bacchus (God of wine) was matured in ex-bourbon casks followed by a double maturation period in premier cru superior Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes casks. We wanted to nose and taste them side by side to see how much the French Sauternes cask influenced the flavour and smoke of the Comus, especially since the Octomore Comus was the most heavily peated single malt Scotch whisky in the world (at the time) clocking in @ 167 PPM.
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