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Glenmorangie Single Malt Whisky’s Bond House No.1 Vintage collection celebrates the unique origins of the Highland Distillery’s most prestigious parcels of aged whisky, each distilled in a single year. Today, Glenmorangie announces the second limited release in the Bond House No. 1 Vintage collection: Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Malt 1989, the first Glenmorangie expression to be part-matured in rare ex-Côte-Rôtie casks.
Glenmorangie’s Bond House No. 1 Vintage collection takes its name from the largest of Glenmorangie’s 19th century Bonded Warehouses. For generations, Warehouse No. 1 was home to Glenmorangie’s casks of maturing spirit, but in 1990 as the Distillery sought to meet surging demand for its single malt around the world, Warehouse No. 1 was transformed into a new still house, revered today as Glenmorangie’s Highland Cathedral. The story of Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Malt 1989 begins with some of the last spirit to ever to emerge from the Distillery’s former still house. While select parcels of 1989 spirit lay maturing in the finest casks, Dr. Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks, vowed to honor Warehouse No. 1’s legacy with a highly sought-after cask assemblage.
Dr. Lumsden arranged for select parcels of the 27-year-old single malt to be finished in a handful of casks, the most prestigious of which once contained Côte-Rôtie wine from the northern Rhône wine region of France. Since wine from the Côte-Rôtie appellation (French for roasted slopes) is created from the rare co-fermentation of Shiraz and Viognier grapes, Dr. Lumsden was interested in the character it would bring to Glenmorangie’s soft and smooth spirit. As the Côte-Rôtie-aged parcels reached their prime, Dr. Lumsden reunited them with spirit from the same vintage finished in the finest ex-Oloroso sherry and superior ex-bourbon casks. This assemblage of aging counterparts created a unique vintage Single Malt, distinguished by its softness, oaky depths, and hints of ripe, red fruit.
“The Bond House No. 1 Vintage collection invites single malt whisky collectors to explore some of Glenmorangie’s most rare and prized vintage whiskies, marked for greatness from their year of origin,” says Dr. Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks. “After 27 years of maturation, I knew that Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Malt 1989 was ready to share. Each cask in the assemblage was carefully chosen to complement the depths brought upon by the ex-Côte-Rôtie casks. Connoisseurs will delight in the beautiful balance of subtle finesse, richness, and intensity of the expression, which is extraordinarily varied for a whisky of such age.”
Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Malt 1989 is chill-filtered, bottled at 43% ABV and priced at $665. will be available in specialist whisky shops around the world, Travel Retail, and the Glenmorangie Distillery Visitor Center.
