What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

News of the Week

🍷 Here is why you should be drinking Chenin Blanc.

💰 These are the most expensive wines of 2025 so far.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 This English sparkling wine took top honors over Champagne.

🥃 Details of the annual Pappy Van Winkle collection have been revealed.

👍 Scotch distillery the Glendronach just released 30- and 40-year-old whiskies.

New Bottle Releases

Glenmorangie A Tales of Spices

The latest creation from Glenmorangie Director of Whisky Creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden MBE, is a single malt that was finished in four different types of casks. The whisky was originally aged in ex-bourbon barrels, and then put into French oak Moroccan red wine barrels (a first for the distillery), new charred oak, shaved and toasted red wine casks, and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. This whisky, which is part of the Tale Of series (previous editions have included ice cream and cake inspired whiskies), is said to bring big spice notes to the palate, with some perfume and fruit flavors along for the ride as well.

Bushmills 26 Year Old Crystal Malt

Bushmills is known for its affordable Irish whiskey blend, but its core portfolio is stacked with excellent age statement single malts (that’s actually the only type of whiskey produced at the distillery). This new 26-year-old single malt was made from a mashbill that included crystal malted barley, a type of barley commonly used to make beer that is roasted specifically to bring out flavors of caramel and chocolate. Those definitely come through, and after more than a quarter century aging in bourbon barrels the whiskey is full of rich, decadent notes of dark chocolate along with some fruit and spice.

Heaven Hill 2025 Grain to Glass Straight Wheated Bourbon

Heaven Hill’s Grain to Glass series is now in its second year, and the wheated bourbon expression arrived a little later than the regular bourbon and rye whiskey which dropped a few months ago. This is perhaps the best release of the series to date, a wheated bourbon that is made with a higher percentage of wheat than what you’d find in other Heaven Hill wheaters like Old Fitzgerald and Larceny. It’s also made from a mashbill that includes a special corn varietal grown at a local Kentucky farm.

Unicorn Pick of the Week

Penelope Founders Reserve 13 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (SRP $200)

Penelope Bourbon was acquired by MGP a few years ago, which makes sense—that is where this relatively new brand has sourced its whiskey from since its founding (some expressions now have Kentucky whiskey in the blend as well). Over the years, the Penelope team has put together a core portfolio that includes a couple of four-grain bourbons along with some special releases like a rose wine cask-finished expression, and last year Penelope launched its Estate Collection. This year’s collection includes five different whiskeys, all aged for at least ten years, including Omega which is finished in French oak barrels. 

We’re focusing on the Founders Reserve 13-year-old bourbon here, which is one of the better whiskeys from Penelope to date. This is a three-grain, not a four-grain, mashbill—a fairly standard 78% corn, 10% rye and 12% malted barley recipe. The whiskey is bottled at 121.4 proof, which is high but still totally approachable. At 13 years old, there are pleasant leather and oak notes on the palate, but there is also a great deal of spice (despite the low rye content), juicy fruit, caramel, and vanilla present. Overall, this is an expensive but complex and well-aged new bourbon that hits all the right notes.