The Côte Rôtie is a well-known red wine appellation at the northern tip of France’s Rhône Valley. The area is only 40 miles long and is responsible for only about five percent of all the wines from the region. Côte Rôtie, translated as “Roasted Slope,” is home to some of the steepest vineyards in all of France.

“The day they came on to our site we opened them up and I gave them a nose,” she recalled. “It was just amazing, I felt then and there this was going to work.”

Aberfeldy’s aged malt along with these casks, Macleod noted, have brought about a refined smoothness to the whisky hinting at fruits with rich, red berry characteristics. It’s deeply evocative of an Eton Mess as the sugariness and the sharpness of the berries come through. A zing of candied citrus peel brings balance before mellowing to smooth vanilla and butterscotch sweetness.