Nectar D'Or, named with a slightly grandiose nod to the French for 'golden nectar', is the Sauternes-finished member of Glenmorangie's extra-matured trio. After ten years in ex-bourbon American oak the spirit is moved into barriques that previously held the great sweet wines of Sauternes, the botrytised dessert wines of Bordeaux's Garonne region, for a further two years of maturation.
It is bottled at 46% without chill filtration. That higher strength matters: the wax-and-citrus signature of Glenmorangie's tall-still spirit is delicate by nature, and the extra alcohol holds the texture together while the wine cask layers its honeyed sweetness on top. The result is one of the more distinctive wine-finished Scotches on the market — closer to a well-made Tokaji-finished whisky in feel than to the usual sherry-bomb territory.
Bill Lumsden has long argued that a successful finish should add a third dimension rather than redecorate the room, and Nectar D'Or is a textbook example. The Sauternes influence is unmissable but never gloopy; the bourbon-cask vanilla and the underlying spirit's gentle citrus carry through to the finish.
It is a dram that does well after a good dinner, particularly with anything custardy or stone-fruited. Among Highland twelve-year-olds it remains a confident piece of work, and a reminder of what made Glenmorangie's wood programme famous in the first place.
