Waterford adds biodynamic expression to core lineup

Cuvée Luna furthers Waterford Distillery’s commitment to biodynamic farming and showcasing barley flavour.

The world’s largest producer of organic and biodynamic whiskies, Waterford Distillery, has announced the release of Cuvée Luna. The single malt whiskey was made from 100% Irish barley grown using regenerative biodynamic farming methods. Mark Reynier, who previously founded Bruichladdich Distillery in Islay, launched Waterford in 2015, using principles common in winemaking like terroir and biodiversity. “Whisky has become an industrially manufactured product, propped up with additives and finishes,” Reynier said. “Barley is one of the most flavoursome cereal grains and, over time, this inherent flavour has been compromised as distilleries prioritise yield. So, we go back to the beginning – not just whisky how it used to be, but how farming used to be, and that means taking every grain of biodynamic barley we can get our hands on.” For Biodynamic: Cuvée Luna, Waterford worked with three biodynamic Irish farmers – Trevor Harris, John McDonnell and Alan Mooney. The whiskey is the latest bottling in the brand’s core range of Cuvée Concepts, and was aged in a mixture of first-fill American oak (37%), virgin American oak (17%), premium French oak (25%) and Vin Doux Naturel casks (21%), for harmony and balance. Biodynamic: Cuvée Luna is bottled at 50% ABV and listed for US$120/£89.95. As with all Waterford releases, each bottle will have a unique terroir code that allows access to the whiskey’s journey from barley to bottle, including information on how the barley was harvested, stored and malted, and how the whiskey was distilled and matured. The whiskey showcases the distillery’s trademark artisanal bakery aromas, along with notes of green apple, hay, malted biscuits, and peaches, with hints of lemon curd and herbal tea. Biodynamic farming seeks to create vibrant living soil and barley crops by treating the farm as a self-contained living ecosystem. Waterford bottled the world’s first biodynamic whiskey in 2021 as part of its Arcadian Farm Origin series, and has since increased its intake to six biodynamic growers in total.