How wine is shaking up the whisky industry

French wine country is a place best known for its deference to tradition and centuries-old wineries. But today, an 8-year-old company has made it the site of groundbreaking innovation — though not for the wine industry but, curiously, for whisky.

Maison Lineti, a whisky distillery launched in 2018, is using winemaking techniques to make the spirit in what’s been called “the most innovative thing to happen to whisky in decades,” per Wired.

Unlike traditional whisky-making, which relies heavily on barrel aging, Maison Lineti’s founders — Magali Picard, a chemical engineer and oenology PhD, and her partner (in life and business) Alex Cosculluela — have found that the secret to good whisky lies in the fermentation process, aided by detailed molecular experimentation and lots of data.

How it works

• They use giant concrete egg-shaped fermentation tanks, which offer better temperature control compared to stainless steel and encourage more movement of the liquid.
• Longer fermentation time (7 days compared to, say, 2-3 for Scotch).
• They use winemaking methods like lees aging, cold soaking, and malolactic fermentation to produce more complex flavors and textures.

The result: a well-rounded whisky with soft floral and mineral notes and a creamy mouthfeel that, at just 3.5 years old, has been blowing experts’ minds.

While the pre-maturation process can take weeks longer than other traditional distilleries, Cosculluela told Wired it can shave 2-4 years off the aging process and yield a spirit of comparable quality.

Plus, since less time in the barrels means less product lost to evaporation, they also save space, energy, and raw materials.

The bigger picture

Like other whisky and wine producers in recent years, the company has faced financial difficulty and nearly shut down last year before ever releasing a product.

But thanks to new funding, they’ve just launched their whisky in the UK and are planning to expand to the US market in 2028.

Already, industry experts have hailed it as “one of the most important distilleries in the world at the moment.”

What’s more exciting: Drinks writer Becky Paskin, who expects other makers to eventually adopt the upstart’s methods, told Wired it’s just the beginning for the young company.

“You're only just starting to see the tip of what Maison Lineti is capable of.”