A spectacular 1971 bottling of Bowmore which appears to have been matured in sherry casks, bottled by the renowned Italian importer, Sestante.

The Sestante import company was founded in the 1970s by Ernesto Mainardi, and he bottled his first single casks under the name in 1985. Alongside his contemporary, Silvano Samaroli, Mainardi pioneered giving his customers a choice of both standard 40-46% bottlings, and cask strength releases from the same casks. Along with his other brand, Silver Seal, Mainardi's bottlings are incredibly sought after.

This is one of two cask strength 18 year olds with this label, the other bottled at 57.3% ABV.

Colour: pure amber. Nose: oh, it’s fabulous! Starts on a blend of caramel (Werther’s) and sea breeze, very expressive and not tired at all. There is something sulphury but those notes are rather pleasant - not disturbing, in any case. It really smells like honeyed oysters (does that exist? Maybe!), with also great notes of earl grey tea, very old Sauternes wine (yes, like an Yquem)… Keeps developing on notes of other wines that are made out of concentrated grapes (straw wine, Aszu Tokaji)… And always these superb coastal notes that balance the whole (but there isn’t any peaty sensation I should add). It gets then even more concentrated, with lots of sultanas… Just superb and the sulphury notes have now vanished. Mouth: oh, very sweet, probably a little fragile at the attack but starting on very old high-end sweet wine again (no list, that would be oenopornography). The smoky notes are quite discrete… Quite some chocolate and mocha, Oriental pastries… Gets then spectacularly spicy, on white pepper, cloves, even a little paprika and quite some cinnamon. What’s surprising is that it’s gaining power after a few seconds… And we have also lots of ripe blackcurrants, raspberries and even blueberries (watch your teeth). Really exceptional, I must say. Probably more aerial than the OB’s from the same era, yet showing quite some oomph… The finish is very long, at that, perfectly balanced, on candied fruits, spices and old sweet wines (again). I think it deserves no less than 93 points

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