Aberlour 1989-2005 - Wilson & Morgan Barrel Selection

A much-loved Speyside distillery, Aberlour was founded in 1879 and was expanded to four stills in 1973, the year before the distillery’s parent company S. Campbell & Son was acquired by French drinks giants Pernod Ricard. Aberlour joined Chivas Brothers’ portfolio when Pernod bought Chivas in 2001, and in 2022 a major expansion plan was announced, with a new stillhouse that will double Aberlour’s capacity to just under 8m litres per year. 

Campbell & Son bottled official Aberlour single malts in the same chunky square bottle as their White Heather blend and these early bottlings from the 1960s and 1970s are still popular today, particularly those bottled at 50%. The acclaimed cask strength sherried Aberlour a’bunadh first appeared in the late 1990s and has been a mainstay of the range ever since. Independent Aberlour is occasionally bottled for the UK by Cadenhead’s, Douglas Laing and others.

Mario Rossi Jr founded his drinks business in Treviso near Venice in northern Italy in 1946, after learning the wine trade from his father, Guiseppe. The company flourished selling imported whisky, cognac and champagne, and in the 1960s and 1970s began importing high end blended whiskies for their customers and building up industry relationships that would become invaluable. 

Mario Rossi's sons Fabio and Walter took over the family business in 1987, renamed the company Rossi & Rossi and began bottling single malt whiskies under the Wilson & Morgan name in 1992, with the first whiskies sourced from Cadenhead’s, one of several Scottish companies who had previously bottled exclusive casks for Rossi & Rossi. Today, Wilson & Morgan’s whiskies are still chosen by chairman Fabio Rossi, a trained oenologist, and are all bottled at cask strength or 46% without colouring or chill filtration.