Murray McDavid Bunnahabhain 15 yr Margaux Wine Cask Single Malt Whiskey 700ml

This release comes from Murray McDavid, the independent bottler founded in 1996 by Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin, and former Springbank director Gordon Wright, known for its long-standing "Art of Maturation" approach and its particular fondness for finishing whisky in fine wine casks. After a series of ownership changes, including a stint tied to Bruichladdich under Rémy Cointreau, the company now operates out of Coleburn Distillery in Speyside, bottling its whiskies without chill filtration or added color.

The base spirit comes from Bunnahabhain, founded in 1881 on Islay's northeastern coast and unusual among the island's distilleries for its naturally gentle, unpeated character. This particular cask spent its first eleven years maturing in a sherry cask before being transferred for a further four years into a cask that previously held Margaux, the celebrated red wine from Bordeaux's Médoc region, bringing the total maturation to fifteen years. It was bottled at cask strength, 58.7% ABV, from a single cask yielding just over three hundred bottles.

The whisky is full-bodied and unctuous, offering dark chocolate, jammy fruit, and baking spice layered with pastry and floral undertones, closing on a very long finish shaped by its high proof.