The Signature Series is our four-part limited-edition series.  It is a selection of Arran Single Malts which showcases the diversity of our spirit and embodies the values which are important to us.  It features four unique bottlings specially chosen by Lochranza Distillery Manager Stewart Bowman and given his seal of approval. 

With this bottling, we invite you to learn about the more heavily peated side of Arran matured in a Bourbon Barrel.  The peated level of this bottling sits at 42ppm.

The Quarter Casks used in this bottling were sourced from a small distillery in Chicago – Koval - who use these custom built 115 litre casks to mature their Bourbon before they arrive with us in Lochranza.

The whisky in this bottling was originally filled into Bourbon Barrels in 2012. It was matured for nearly 5 and a half years, before being transferred into the Koval Quarter Casks in September 2018, where it spent the remaining 5 and a half years of its maturation time. We filled only a small number of these Quarter Casks and have not filled any more since. As such, they have a very rare place in our inventory.

Over the course of the secondary maturation, the intensity of the heavily peated whisky has taken on an even more complex and full-bodied character. The smaller the size of cask, the greater the surface contact area between the wood and the spirit, effectively creating an environment for ‘express’ maturation. The resulting whisky has the benefit of more intense flavours which add depth and greater nuance to the final dram. Smokier notes mingle with the well-loved charred citrus and sweet vanilla spices of Arran Single Malt, evoking a bonfire made from barrel staves.

Our Barrel Bonfire is bottled at 50% Vol, as always non-chill filtered and with no added colouring

Distillery Notes...

With Signature Series Edition 3 'Duero Discovery', you'll discover the influence of an excellent quality wine cask on our Arran Single Malt. The red wine casks used in this bottling were previously used to mature wine from the wine-producing region along the Duero River, in northern Spain, before they arrived with us in Lochranza.

This rich, ruby amber coloured whisky is a Premium 12 year old unpeated example of Arran Single Malt.

The Duero Discovery was initially matured for 6 years in first and second fill bourbon barrels and then transferred into first fill Spanish red wine casks and matured in our dunnage warehouse number 4 under the watchful eye of Distillery Manager Stewart Bowman for a further 6 years.

Stewart has blended the resulting whisky from these casks at the optimal age of 12years and is proud to present an unusual maturation of Arran Single Malt bearing his signature and seal of approval.

Nose

Bright with caramelised fruit and hazelnuts. Slight note of salted caramel and zesty grapefruit rind.

Palate

Full bodied, plenty of complex mouth feel. Oak forward with dark red berries and creamy vanilla. A little ginger, sweet spice and aniseed.

Finish

Sweetness, Hazelnut, Ripe figs, Mouth-watering

Sliced apples, pears, lemon rind and honeysuckle come through the nose and palate. Medium to full bodied with a creamy and crunchy finish. Itense acidity and minerality like a solid Chablis.

15 Minute Bottles is Tom & Anne (Central Otago) alongside Dave & Lana (North Canterbury). Their eclectic backgrounds in wine, hospitality and agriculture have culminated in this project, producing the kind of lively, energetic wines that they love to drink.
15 Minute Bottles sources fruit from family owned and operated vineyards who are both certified and practising organic.
Their exposure to energetic and thought-provoking natural wines coined the phrase “15 Minute Bottle,” which represents their collective ethos towards drinking wine, where a bottle is shared around a table, inspiring conversation, conviviality and connection.

Certified organic fruit from Terrace Edge Vineyard, free draining gravels on the south bank of the Waipara river.
Gently direct pressed, fermented dry in large format neutral oak. Settled and stabilised over the winter, bottled in thespring with the addition of frozen juice to reach 13 g/l residual sugar before fermenting dry in bottle. Fine bead and generous mouth feel. Lively, rich and so much fun.
Unfined and unfiltered. Minimal added sulphites.

15 Minute Bottles is Tom & Anne (Central Otago) alongside Dave & Lana (North Canterbury). Their eclectic backgrounds in wine, hospitality and agriculture have culminated in this project, producing the kind of lively, energetic wines that they love to drink.
15 Minute Bottles sources fruit from family owned and operated vineyards who are both certified and practising organic.
Their exposure to energetic and thought-provoking natural wines coined the phrase “15 Minute Bottle,” which represents their collective ethos towards drinking wine, where a bottle is shared around a table, inspiring conversation, conviviality and connection.

Riesling (2/3) and Feijoa (1/3), sourced from two different sites a stone’s throw apart on opposite sides of the Waipara River. Both direct pressed, co-fermented in neutral oak. Settled and stabilised over the winter at ambient, bottled in the spring with the addition of frozen juice to reach 13 g/l residual sugar before fermenting dry in bottle.
Effervescent, boldly fragrant and textural.
Unfined and unfiltered. No added sulphites

A subtly sweet and fragrant elderflower liqueur. 

Every bottle of Mille Fleurs is infused with over 1,000 organic Hawkes Bay elderflowers.  Enjoy flavours of citrus, pear, lychee, cut grass and sweet florals.

Serve cold: neat, on ice, long with soda or add a dash to sparkling wine. A great addition to many cocktails.

An assemblage of different parcels on marl and limestone soils in Gevingey, 35yo vines on average, facing west. Vinified and aged in foudres with no bâtonnage, the wine was bottled in July the following year. This is a zippy and lean style of chardonnay that is always great. 

Notes on the producer

Natives of the Jura, both Pauline and Géraud’s families owned tiny plots (used to make wine for home consumption) and spending time in the vines in their childhood was enough to give them the wine bug. They met while studying winemaking in Dijon and created Domaine des Marnes Blanches when they returned to the Jura in 2006. They farmed organically from the word go and have added (some planted) parcels along the way to reach a total of 12ha today, spread across three towns in the Sud-Revermont (south of the Côtes-du-Jura AC).

They recently built a new winery off the main road in Ste-Agnès which gives them plenty of space and allows them to vinify and age every parcel separately. Wild yeast fermentation is the norm, wines are fermented in stainless steel and then aged in minimum 5yo 228 to 600ltr barrels. Sulphur is used sparsely for the whites (around 20mg/l total) or not at all for the reds.

Hand-harvested with rigorous sorting, traditional vinification with alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in 500-liter demi-muids, indigenous yeasts, without racking. Organic viticulture (certified), and biodynamic practices.

The nose is intense, offering beautiful floral aromas. The palate is splendid, rich, and full-bodied, with aromas of lemon. Tension is currently dominant, along with salinity and minerality, but this nectar will undoubtedly evolve towards a more luscious character. It finishes with a very long, mouthwatering finish.

Aromatic and inviting, this flavourful Shiraz shows ripe black fruit, cassis and lovely spice on the palate. In a great drinking window with a nice balance betweeen some primary fruit, secondary aging charecteristics & plenty of Tertiary character. Very smooth Tannin's.

Technical Info:

Soil type - Hutton, decomposed granite

Age of vines - Planted 2000 & 2001

Plant density - 2300–3200 vines per hectare

Trellising - VSP & Guyot

Pruning - 2-bud spurs every 12cm & Cane pruning

Yield - Approximately 12 t/ha

Vintage - A cool start to the season, but warmed up during the peak harvesting period. Very little rain during harvest, resulting in good, healthy fruit.

Yeasts - Natural occurring yeasts

Fermentation temp- 27 °C

Method- De-stalked, crushed, pumped into stainless steel tanks, pumped over for 6 days, left for 2 days before pressing, racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation.
Wood Maturation 18 months in barrel, 35% new French and the balance in older barrels