iDealwine update: The Macallan

One of the most revered names in whisky, The Macallan is to Scottish single malts what Petrus is to French Grand Crus – a monument. iDealwine had noted a whisky boom at auction – via its dedicated platform, Fine Spirits Auction – with Macallan taking centre stage.

Nestled above the river Spey, Macallan Distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Craigellachie, Moray. It is one of the original farm distilleries of Speyside, becoming legal in 1824 when barley farmer Alexander Reid obtained one of the new licences issued after the passing of the 1823 Excise Act. In subsequent years, Macallan passed through different owners, including Roderick Kemp, one of the main figures of Victorian distilling. Kemp’s descendants, the Schiach family, owned

Macallan until 1996, when Highland Distillers took over. The Edrington group acquired the company in 1999, and retains ownership to this day. Macallan owes its renown in part to the excellence of its production methods and its Sherry-cask maturation, as well as the owners’ vision of its single malt, which they recognised as being akin to a Grand Cru. The management team of Allan Shiach, Frank Newlands, Hugh Mitcalfe, and Willie Phillips, for instance oversaw a campaign that positioned the malt as a ‘first-growth whisky’. This led to the whisky adopting practices from the world of wine, including vintage bottlings for all versions aged 15 years and older.

From its origins in a wooden shed with two stills, Macallan grew over time, in 1975 having 21 stills. Two mash tuns receive the malt and the water from onsite springs. Macallan uses its own variety of barley – Minstrel – for some of its production; the barley is cultivated on more than 40 farms in Scotland and Northern England specifically for the distillery.

The Macallan’s stills are a legend in their own right. With a capacity of 3,900 litres each, the stills concentrate the alcohol extracted during the first distillation; these small stills ensure a high amount of contact between the copper and the spirit, lending rich, pure aromas to the alcohol.

Old bottlings, or rare, special bottlings of The Macallan Single Malt regularly achieve top prices at auction

A state-of-the-art distillery officially opened in May 2018. The distinctive subterranean design, with an undulating roof planted with native grasses and wildflowers, cost £140 million and, as well as cementing its status as the world’s top luxury whisky brand, will allow the distillery to produce up to a third more whisky than its predecessor.

While Macallan has become synonymous with ex-Sherry cask maturation, it was also the first distillery to create bespoke casks, whereby specific trees, usually from northern Spain, are selected, and such aspects as the length of drying, the type of coopering, and the seasoning are specified to obtain the desired results during the whisky-ageing process. Given that up to 80% of the Macallan’s final character and flavour is determined by cask quality, the oak cask is the most significant element in ensuring the house style. Macallan now blends Sherry casks from European and American oak and ex-Bourbon casks for its Fine Oak line, launched in 2004, which tends to have a lighter, sweeter flavour profile than old Macallan styles. Bottles of 12-year-old Macallan Fine Oak currently sell on iDealwine for around €100 a bottle.

COLLECTOR’S ITEM

Now that Sherry-only maturation is no longer the norm, it has become a collector ’s item, and old bottlings, or rare, special bottlings of The Macallan Single Malt regularly achieve top prices at auction. Macallan’s 10-year-old Sherry cask whiskies are no longer produced, and all sell for around €1,500; vintage bottlings of old vintages sell for at least €3,000. A bottle of 13 years 1997 Sherry Butt Easter Elchies Cask sold for €3,070 in December 2020, up from €2,380 just three months before. This Speyside single malt was distilled in 1997, matured in a firstfill Sherry cask, and bottled in 2010 at cask strength; only 600 bottles were made.

The most expensive bottle to sell on iDealwine was a Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky distilled in 1938, and bottled in 1980. Bottled for the British market, it is part of the Handwritten Labels series, and has appeared at auction only once, in 2021, when it went under the hammer for just over €14,000. A Macallan distilled in 1950 and bottled in 1980 for the French market and imported by Corade sold for €9,560 this year. Finally, The Macallan 1979 Gran Reserva, distilled in 1979, and bottled after 18 years of Sherry-cask maturation, sold in June 2022 for just shy of €5,000.

The Gran Reserva range has only a few bottlings, all aged 18 years, composed of exceptional Sherry casks that were isolated and tasted regularly over the years. The same bottle sold in 2021 for €3,650, reflecting the increase in auction prices for these rare bottlings.

The Macallan has built a reputation for being one of the world’s leading single malt whiskies, and it is the leading Scotch malt in iDealwine’s Fine Spirits Auctions. Its irreproachable quality has ensured Macallan a firm spot in the nascent luxury whisky market. Add to that the scarcity of many of The Macallan’s bottlings, and for collectors and connoisseurs alike, this Speyside distillery is a firm favourite.