Monday 26 May 2014

Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or Review

Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or 12 Years Old - 46% abv.

My second Glen-mo review is another whisky in the same series as the previous Quinta Ruban. This one is a Glenmorangie that was started in american oak and then moved into Sauternes casks for finishing. Sauternes is a sweet French wine that is made from the juice of grapes that were allowed to stay on the vine until the shrivel in the sun. This juice is more concentrated and higher in sugar and makes a delicious, thick, sweet white wine.  Sounds like a great way to additionally evolve some scotch whisky!
click photo to enlarge

Colour: Deep golden mellow yellow colour.

Nose: I get a peachy/apricot type thing going on along with some overripe pear. Very sweet smelling. Smells like a dash of lemon juice is in amongst the other things as well. Nice!

Palate: Sweet on entry and pretty soft. The white wine character is there along with some of the salt typical of Glenmorangie. Honey and lemon with apricot and some under-ripened peach. A little salt in there too.

A few drops of water seems to this one some good.  It softens and spreads the fruits a bit and brings out a nice vanilla note. With the Quinta Ruban, I generally found I didn't want to touch it but this Nectar D'Or seems to become just right with 2 - 4 drops of water.  Really good just like that. A great thing is that this is non chill-filtered so the water actually doesn't really affect the texture much and, in this case, seems to make even a little bit more velvety.

Finish: The persistence is medium in length and it makes it down to about the Adam's apple.

When would I drink this? Probably more of a summer whisky for times where some added richness over a simple american-oak aged profile is desired. Evening drink on a nice day, maybe?  Whatever it is, I suggest trying a couple drops of water in this one to reveal its true goodness. I think the Quinta Ruban makes for a great value as a night cap. This one would fit the bill of digestif, I think. The folks at Glenmorangie struck a good balance with this one.