Taster

Nose: Shy and delicate, spearmint, drying sweet tobacco note emerges. Raspberry jam, hay brier, coconut and vanilla smoothies, Harrogate toffee, honey spiced with orange.

Palate: Dense with a leafy mulch quality, we are back in autumn. Slow burning spice notes, a light peat note. Fruit and citrus lurking here

Finish: Quite buttery at first then the oak begins to grip and dry.

Comment: This might be old, but it has not lost any of its quality.

Score: 8.5

Taster

Nose: Crème caramel, floral wax, raspberry coulis, a pitch fork full of wet hay, runny golden honey and a little spray of white flowers.

Palate: Aromatic vermouth, fat, punchy. Zesty Sicilian lemons then into distinctly dry almost burnt oaky notes, toasted hazelnuts and peat.

Finish: The signs of age show when the oak takes hold of the tongue, lingering notes veer towards the slippery slope of dryness.

Comment: Delightfully balanced

Score: 8.7