Tasting Panel Notes

After nine years in ex-bourbon oak, this was transferred into a second fill PX-seasoned barrique. We imagined a beach bonfire, with a feast of honey-glazed ribs, sweet chilli salmon, crab claws and mussels. Staying on the beach, the palate found sea breezes, wood smoke and an ever-so-slightly grubby sweetness – burnt rosemary, toffee rolled in ash, salty liquorice, tarry driftwood and ‘licking a coal sack’. With water, the nose suggested boatyard workers heading to a harbour-side café for lunch. The reduced palate was still robust but less forceful; pork scratchings, marshmallows retrieved from embers and gunpowder green tea – juicy, sweet, smoky and delicious.