Starward releases Botrytis Cask, a seven-year single malt matured in dessert-wine barrels

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Starward Botrytis Cask Single Malt Whisky.

Melbourne distiller Starward has added a new limited release to its Projects series: Botrytis Cask, a single malt fully matured for seven years in barrels that once held botrytis semillon – the rich, honeyed dessert wine made from "noble rot"–affected grapes.

It's an unusual cask even by Starward's wine-barrel standards. Head blender Jarrad Huckshold says botrytis wines are made in such small quantities in Australia that the barrels rarely surface, and the distillery spent years tracking down enough to fill a release. The whisky splits its time between fresh and charred ex-botrytis casks – the fresh wood lending sweetness, the charred wood a more savoury edge.

Starward describes a dessert-like profile that sits well outside its usual house style: dried apricot, orange blossom, marzipan and marmalade, with cedar, nutmeg and beeswax on a long finish. Huckshold calls the flavours "not typical of our Starward style".

Botrytis Cask is bottled at 48% ABV in 700ml, with an RRP of AU$169. It is available by ballot only – entries open 1 August at starward.com.au, with the draw on 21 August 2024.

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See also [Mattinson Whisky Hub]
See also [Australia’s Most Awarded Whiskies]
See also [Starward Botrytis Cask Review]

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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