Whisky Intelligence has reproduced (with permission) The Gauntleys Whisky Newsletter for May 2010, the author, Chris Goodrum, has some excellent insights of whisky, which makes for excellent reading on a Sunday. However W.I. has carefully excised any mention of r*m or V*dk*, with the exception of a brief mention in the first paragraph. The full newsletter can be viewed on the Gauntleys website.
Dear Whisky Customers
I would like to thank you for all the positive reaction and comments made about the new format. However this may be the last time for it. I’ll explain! In a short while we will be launching a fully e-commerce tobacco website, this will be followed in turn by a fully e-commerce whisky site by hopefully September and then a wine site.
The plan with the new whisky site is to allow a greater interaction with you the whisky public. Hopefully it will allow me to post up to the minute reviews of what I have been tasting, as well as allowing customers to add their own tasting notes and feedback on their purchases. We also have a number of other, hopefully interesting ideas for the site, and the plan is for these things to evolve over time. The priority is to get a working site up and running which can be added to and evolve over time.
SOAP BOX TIME – TASTING NOTES
I’m sure everyone has at one time read a tasting note written by a critic, reviewer or by some marketing flunky for one the big distilleries or corporations and wonder, what the hell was he on! Now I must admit to falling on the Murray side of the fence when it comes to tasting notes. I want a dram to either tell me a story or take me on a journey. Ok this may seem a bit pretentious but I try and describe that journey in my notes, as I believe that Jim does.
I am definitely not of the ‘smells like damp autumn meadows’ or ‘moist forest floor after the rains have passed’ and I find notes that are littered with these synonyms not really to my taste. I also find the ‘ingredient listing’ style frankly dull and lacking in passion, but my personal ire is reserved for those tasting notes, more often than not corporate in style that at best are fully of superfluous waffle or at worst are just downright misleading and/or verging on the blatantly untrue.
Now I know that we all have different susceptibilities to different compounds in whisky and maybe occasionally one might over-egg the mixture and maybe if I tasted now some of the malts that I raved about when I first started then I might view them completely differently, but that is purely down to an a better understanding, which only comes with experience.
But I have never come across such a falsehood as perpetrated by some corporate flunky at Diageo, who wrote the ‘official’ tasting note for the Glenkinchie 12 year old. This particular bottling has been slated by a number of reviewers and it was about time I tasted it. I must admit that I liked the old 10 year old. It was unpretentious with a distinct orange blossom note to it, and I thought that the distillers edition 1992, was one of the better bottlings of that range, and who could forget that magnificent 33 year old bottled by Dewar Rattray about a year or so ago.
So the ‘official’ tasting note went like this:
Glenkinchie 12 year old 43%
Nose: Very aromatic and flowery overall, like breathing in a country garden. Noticeable vanilla, cut flowers and beneath these, a clean, toasty note. Becomes increasingly sweet and creamy, with a lightly aromatic edge and fresh citrus, which all brings to mind lemon cheesecake. Water makes it still more creamy and scented.
Body: Light, smooth.
Palate: A sweet, soft start, like crème anglaise, soon becoming flowery again. A really smooth delivery, especially after adding a drop of water. The mid-palate is crisp and then the flavour settles into a tightly focused bundle of butter-icing, lemon cheesecake and freesias.
Finish: Herbal and drying slightly, as if it were pot-pourri.
The actual result was shall we say somewhat different:
Glenkinchie 12 year old 43%
A really dreadful nose, so off key, it’s untrue. Wet card and dirty orange fruit accented by some marc like botanicals and a sugary sweetness. A touch of murky coffee adds to the unpleasantness. The palate is sugary sweet, with a touch of orange blossom distillery character. Only marginally better than the nose. There is some malt on the middle but it becomes a bit like fizzy sherbet! Short and botanical finish with that murky over boiled coffee note returning. Oh dear!
So what can you say? Whoever wrote this official note was either tasting something completely different, or lying! Trading standards are you listening?
Whilst we are on the subject of tasting notes. I noticed that my tasting note on 16 year old Lagavulin, was frankly shocking. Ok, it was written many years ago when one was just a neophyte and ones palate was quiet so adroitly attuned as it is now, or maybe I ones writing has become more verbose? So something needed to be done. It had to be re-tasted and a bang up to date note had to be made!! I know such hardship!
Lagavulin 16 year old 43% £52.95
A lovely, soft and mature nose, opening with distinctive sherry cask dried fruits, walnuts and sugar coated orange peel, followed by smoke, slightly medicinal peat, bog myrtle and fern/ bracken notes. Over time an almost perfumed blood orange note appears as does the trade mark salted kippers. Superb complexity.
The palate open with the creamy American oak followed by gentle brine and peat smoke, building to a softly-intense leafy/ bog myrtle peated middle. The sherried dried fruits lurk in the background creating a hearty background for the mature orange fruit, smoked kippers, saline and peat to accentuate. Wonderfully gentle, yet robust and persistent. Finishing with a hint of Bowmore/Ardbeg-esque parma violets and the nutty dried fruit notes lingering.
THREE PHROAIG’S
I have to correct a slight error in the last newsletter. I wrongly stated that the Dewar Rattray 11 year old Laphroaig was bourbon casked, when it actually turns out to be from a sherry cask. When I receive samples, they don’t generally state the cask type on them, but it usually fairly evident from which one it comes from and I was convinced that had been aged in American oak. Yes there was some leafy character on the nose, which could have from the sherry cask but it could also have come from the bog myrtle aromas, which is what I thought because on the palate there really was no discernable trace of sherry. So how many times had that cask been re-used?
There is no mistaking that the current 10 year old cask strength from the distillery is anything but sherry matured. Subtle it isn’t. On the other hand the Triple wood, is a vatting of spirit of various ages (5-13 years), matured in standard Bourbon casks, which is then married together before being racked into quarter casks, for a short 9 month second period of maturation then finally finished for 9 months in first fill European Oloroso sherry butts and a further 21-24 months in re-fill butts. It’s certainly a fantastic dram, displaying all the different maturation periods in harmony.
Laphroaig 1998 (11 year old) 61.6% £56.95
Bourbon Cask Sherry Cask 80044
A classic nose – briny and phenolic with rubber tar, immense medicinal peat, bog myrtle, hints of coffee and no shortage of alcohol! Oooh pummel my nose with all things Islay! It’s incredibly rubbery – one for the latex fetish lovers!
Oily and youthful, there’s a touch of ‘off the still’ cereal notes, then its heads down for one hell of an Islay rollercoaster! Medicinal peat, iodine and alcohol slam into the palate followed by briny fish and more rubber than Susan Wayland’s wardrobe! Absolutely peated to hell and back, raw, sadistic and a veritable monster! If this was a woman you’d be definitely calling her mistress!
A drop of water sort of calms things down a bit and allows some light coastal fruit; hickory and charcoal to emerge from the rubbery, peaty madness. On the palate it’s still pretty raw and intense; I mean its young Laphraoig for heavens sake what more do you expect? – peat, rubber, fish and oils! Although after all that it does finish with a winey, grassy Sauvignon Blanc esque note!
Laphroaig 10 year old 57.8% £45.95
Sherry. Bottled Feb 2009 – The first release of the new Laphroaig Cask Strength which is now being bottled in small batches.
The rubber and peat oil aromas fight like hell to get through the omnipresent herbal sherry. It takes awhile to get to grips with this nose, but you are rewarded with a good complexity of briny dried fruit, toffee and banana. There’s a vague whiff of youthful cereal, which nestles just under all the sherry, but said sherry cask really holds back the phenolics.
On the palate thankfully the sherry plays second fiddle to the leafy, bog myrtle peat, menthol and tar, but it’s not long before the wood attempts to fight back. Intensely sooty on the middle with a faint rubberiness and plenty of windswept briny coastal characteristics. The alcohol provides a breath taking, tongue tingling experience, but at this strength there’s not much of a finish to talk about.
With water the sherry is pushed into the background as the peat takes centre stage along with some herbal accented orange and tangerine. The palate is sweeter, more candied and gentler. Mouth filling and soft, the rich sherry tarries awhile longer before drifting off into a tarry, salt encrusted, coastal finale.
Laphroaig Triple Wood 48% 1 litre £81.95
Aged in Bourbon oak plus quarter casks. Finished in European Sherry.
Quiet a leafy nose, both from the subtle Sherry cask influence and the bog myrtle. Faintly astringent and coastal. It’s not long before the American oak wades in adding its creamy vanillins to the coastal peat and youthful rubberiness.
The palate begins like the nose with the leafy sherry and a shed load of herbs and bog myrtle. This is followed by the intense coal dust, peat and waves of astringent coastal salty goodness. The sherry finish sort of blunts the raw edges, whilst the quarters adds there particular brand of rounded fruitiness. Superb length with a late mocha/ coffee note and the returning charred wood embers and peat.
RYE & CORN
As promised in the newsletter I have had a chance to taste the 100% Rye whisky from Zuidam and the first thing that you notice is that it’s a lot softer and less earthy/ dunnagey / gritty than say an American rye. So if you are a fan of Sazerac or the Pikesville rye then you should give this a shot.
Dutch Rye 5 year old 40% £47.95
Cask 546-619
A gentle, extremely oily nose with beeswax coated rye grains and relatively subtle pure vanilla oak. Over time the violet and lilac notes appear as does a touch of stem ginger and light coffee spices. Very restrained and showing a lovely purity. It’s interesting to note that it has none of the earthy/ dunnagey character of American Rye.
Soft and subtle on the palate, opening with floral violet tinged caramel-vanilla oak. The gingery rye slowly builds on the middle to become generous and mouth filling. Harmonious and soft, the rye and oak are in perfect sync. Finally the oak bitters out the finish leaving hints of coffee and liquorice, botanicals and a smidge of youthful cereal/ grist in the after taste.
A lovely dram, but it would have been interesting to see it bottled at 46%, but I think if it was bottled at cask strength, the combination of the alcohol and oak would have dried the palate out too much, but a soupcon more alcohol would have added more bite. Promising.
That leads me nicely into my next piece about corn whisky. I recently discovered that 13 states in the good old USA have what is commonly described as ‘Veggie libel laws’. These 13 states include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas. Notably missing from that list is Kentucky, so I can state without fear of litigation that the Heaven Hill Mellow Corn is absolutely awful! Not only does it taste bad, but it has an awful label as well. It is sweet, dirty, and sickly and only god knows why it’s it so popular. I guess the same could be said for Jack Daniels Old No7 and Jim Beam white label as well. Plain and simply it’s down to marketing and creating ‘brand awareness’, which both JD and JB do very well. It’s definitely not for what is contained in the bottle!
Heaven Hill Mellow Corn 50%
Aged for 2 years.
Soft aromas of herbal, fluffy-candy floss. Almost sickly sweet with a big whiff of perfumed parma violets. Masses of sweet oak with some corn laced banana, but overall it has an odd sweetness and astringency, which isn’t particularly appealing. The palate is oily and frankly simple with corn, banana, spice and loads of sweet oak, but its ephemeral and the flavours die quickly into a sweet, dirty, sickly flatness. Disappointing.
ST GEORGE COMES OF AGE
St Georges Distillery Chapter 6 46% 70cl £38.95 20cl 17.95
First Fill Bourbon Cask 011-011
Unpeated
The colour shows that the additional 18 months has imparted more wood character, and it does show adding a more toasted note and maybe muting the natural oils that were more prevalent in Chapter 4. In saying that the initial aromas are of crisp barley, light grass and citrus. Although showing a tad more maturity than Chapter 4 it still retains a youthful cereal character. Finally the sweet American oak builds adding a touch of natural caramel.
On the palate the sweet oak sets out its stall from the off, with those caramel and toasted notes. Yes the oak dominates after a fashion but the spirit has developed more ‘whisky’ character with the gristy barley, citrus and grass flavours balancing the oak. It has a lovely intense middle with a touch of neutral-spirit-botanicals. The combination of the oak and alcohol shortens the finish. Again less oily than the Chapter 4.
With water the nose is more youthful with flower petal marc notes mingling with the botanicals. However the is a gloriously juicy apricot core surrounded by gristy porridge notes. The oak has become fudgeier in nature and is wonderfully clean and pure.
On the palate water releases some of the hidden oils and as the alcohol is not as sharp it has a more rounded mouth feel. Like the nose the oak is marvellously fudgey but the marc and botanical note are still there. The oak comes back again on the finish leaving an oily/ oaky coating and a slightly lemon sherbet after taste. Coming along nicely!
AN EXERCISE IN WOOD FLAVOURING?
I have noticed that a number of distilleries are moving away from the idea of taking American oak matured whisky and finishing it in say Oloroso casks. As whisky maturation is an inexact science, you can never be exactly sure of how long to leave the spirit in the ‘finishing’ casks before it goes too far over. Yes there are a number of blenders that have a long experience of doing this and can estimate the best length of time to leave it in theses casks, but at the end of the day, you are literally crossing your fingers. So a number of bottlings these days are created by vatting together whisky that has been aged in a number of different casks in order to get the balance right. Some notable recent single malt bottlings using this technique include Gordon Wright’s Alchemist bottling of 10 year old Springbank which was a marriage of Bourbon and Port casks, the Balvenie Signature 12 year old (Bourbon and sherry), and this one the Diageo Mannochmore 18 year old natural cask strength bottling.
This creating of a recipe is hardly revolutionary stuff. Blenders have been creating Blended whisky for donkey’s years using this technique. And why not. Instead of guessing, you can have full control over just what flavours and the balance of these flavours that you want in your finished product. And if you don’t want any pesky distillery character to get in the way of your woody magnum opus, then pick a relatively neutral one…….. like Mannochmore for example!
Mannochmore 18 year old 54.9%
Diageo Natural Cask Strength bottling
Aged in re-chrarred Sherry, Bourbon and new American oak
An interesting nose. No really distillery character but a lovely melding together of the various woods. There is plenty of nutty sherried dried fruit, American oak vanillins along with liquorice, coffee, ginger biscuits, pepper and herbs. Excellent balance and complexity. The palate is spotlessly clean, soft and possibly leans more toward the Oloroso sherry flavours – dried fruit, coffee, etc and there is a definite burnt wood note. The alcohol masks the finish.
With water the nose become a lot more Oloroso in character but only initially, but the American oak really shines now. Some lovely crystalised orange fruit emerges, along with a touch of apple and caramel coated banana. The palate pretty much follows the nose.
NEW DUNCAN TAYLOR BOTTLINGS
NC2 Imperial 11 year old 46% £31.95
A floral and aromatic nose of orange blossom, white liquorice, some herbal honey, slightly gristy barley. Lovely freshness that over time become slightly botanical. The palate is slightly oily and botanical with a lovely depth of sweet, juicy apricot, hints of straw, herbal honey and sweet porridge oats. It becomes a real honey fest on the middle, developing hints of white chocolate/ liquorice. Good crisp length with the alcohol and a salty nuance balancing the honey sweetness.
NC2 Craggenmore 12 year old 46%
Bourbon
A very light and grassy nose, with a distinct Sauvignon blanc-eque style. A touch high toned with perfumed orange fruit along with some youthful rose petal marc and a hint of celery(?). A pleasant sweetness which in time turns a into a slight sugar water character. The palate is quiet sweet-ish with rose water, grass and citrus. A bit of a lightweight with the alcohol being quiet intrusive, and lots of salt on the middle which dries out the finish and shortens. Leaves behind a sweet residue on the sides of the tongue and a slight cardboard after taste.
With water the nose turns into pure sugar water and tones down all the other aromas. It does the same to the palate and emphasises its lack of real depth. Unfortunately a bit par for the course from this distillery in my experience.
Majesty 30 year old Single Highland Malt 40%
Bourbon
Apparently I received this sample by mistake as it is not for the UK market
The nose begins with some pleasant light orange fruit, which has a touch of a plastic/ waxy note to it and some salted nut, barley sugar sweets and light diesel oil aromas before the honeyed American oak vanillins assert themselves and that’s about it. The palate is very much oak dominated from the word go, crushing the fruit under a blanket of vanillins and crème caramel flavours. Granted the oak has a lovely honeyed-sawdusty sweetness, but any distillery character has definitely gone awol. The oak bitters out the finish and leaves hints of walnut, liquorice and coffee along with a salty after taste.
Glen Morey 1973 (36 year old) 53.1% £ Sold out – unfortunately!
Bourbon Cask 7037
Very dark in colour with a terrific bouquet of Armagnac-esque dried fruit – raisins, prunes, almonds and sultanas. Luscious, mature almost tropical fruit follow with the candy sweet American oak sitting in the background. Quiet robust and earthy for a Morey, and very complex, developing light treacle and a slight herbal-leafiness. Lovely!
The palate is fairly light with sugar coated, honeyed dried fruit and that Armagnac-esqur rancio. It even has a touch of the foxy Baco 22a about it and a touch of roasted green nuts and building salt (almost Manzanilla like). A short, piquant burst of alcohol is followed by the old wood notes of roasted coffee, liquorice, hickory and dried spices. The honey returns once more with an herbal inflection and exits with a dried, nutty fruit finale. A lovely old dram that definitely doesn’t need water because, well, just take my word for it!
Caperdonich 1972 (37 year old) 56.5% £140.95
Bourbon Cask 7414
A gargantuan, enveloping nose of liquorice infused herbal honey. A more Cognac-esque dried fruit rancio with dried orange fruit rind, sultanas and dried apricot. Mountainous polished mature oak entwines with the gorgeous sweet honey laden spices, sawdust, demarara sugar and earthy notes. It’s definitely a venerably beasty and I imagine that in its youth it was quiet a hot one as there is a slight touch of acetone and oily boiled sweets note, but it’s holding up quiet magnificently.
The palate is old and pretty woody to begin with. It’s like picking wood splinters out of your teeth. However it’s by no means over the hill. The herbal-heathery honey and Cognac dried fruits fight back before the intense alcohol clears the way for some light boiled sweet, mature rose petals and yet more dried fruit. Finally finishing with demerara sugar, liquorice and light engine oil.
A drop of water brings forward the oak with oily marzipan notes. On the palate it does the opposite, dampening the assertive wood and alcohol, allowing the pure demerara sugar sprinkled dried fruit more leeway. Either way it’s entertaining and enjoyable.
Glen Scotia 1991 (19 year old) 57.6% £97.95
Bourbon Cask 71375
The nose opens with a waft of soft brine and soft botanical marc-like notes. As it gets into its stride the wonderful complexity of this dram becomes apparent, each time you put your nose into the glass a new aroma pop’s up – smoked meat, light peat smoke, bog myrtle, oat cakes, juicy orange fruit, honey, hints of parma violets and perfumed lavender water(?). The oak adds old toffee and hickory.
The palate begins like the nose with a soft briny quality followed by waxy, honeyed fruit and light peat smoke. It moves into parma violet and soft botanical marc-like territory before an intense but brief hit of coal smoke clears the middle before the botanicals and herbal notes return. All the time the oak sits behind giving the malt a wonderful structure. Good length which leaves a salty, oat cake finish and the old wood notes on the after taste.
A drop of water emphasises the waxy fruit on the nose and the old polished wood. On the palate it becomes lighter, less complex and a lot sweeter, with the violets and lavender water becoming more noticeable and the old wood notes gripping the finish. A lovely old Campbeltown malt, that is best drunk neat.
NASTY BOTTLING OF THE MONTH AWARD
Goes to………….. Dimple 15 year old. Retailing in the mid £30, I assume it’s what the corporate boys would call a ‘premium blend’ and you would have hoped that it would have tasted better than this. In Jim Murrays 2010 Bible he gives it an 87.5 and says “A type of treat for the more technically minded of the serious blend drinkers amongst you”. Well he certainly wasn’t referring to this bottle. I mean just the colour of it makes you think that something is seriously wrong, and give it a serious shake and the caramel sits on top of the spirit like an oil slick.
So why is this bottle so bad? I have a theory. I have done some investigation, and it would appear that it is composed of around 30 different components. The main single malts used are Glenkinchie and Linkwood, but I would suspect that the bottle to which this batch belongs contained a fair proportion of dirty, old Dufftown. I mean once you have tasted Dufftown, you never forget it. Maybe there was a mistake in the blending process al la Serendipity and some hapless employee poured too much Dufftown into the blending vat. Oh you can imagine the fun that must have created in the Diageo boardroom. But why in god’s name did they think they could get away with bottling it as dimple, by simply covering up the dirtyiness with caramel?
Surely it would have been far better to admit defeat and just flog it off to some obscure blend that would only see the light of day in darkest Peru, rather than potentially ruin the reputation of this historic blend. Talk about dumb! I mean your average customer that has a bottle from this batch is going to think that it’s always this bad, rather than just being a dodgy batch, and well that’s a customer you’ve lost. The same could be said for dodgy single casks, but please don’t get me started on that!
Anyway, if you are tempted to try this, please check the colour first! – You have been warned!
Dimple 15 year old 40%
Odd Orange Colour (Looks like Ironbru!)
Well the nose isn’t giving much away, some soft, sweet restrained Oloroso. I have a feeling this has been dumbed down with caramel. The aromas remind me of a cheap blend. The palate displays the same flatness as the nose with a dufftown-esque dirtiness, some restrained sherried green nuts, pepper and coffee-malt, but on the whole it’s hollow with some grainy spirit on the finish.
AND FINALLY……. SPRINGBANK
Springbank 12 year old Claret Finish 54.4% £41.95
9 years in Re-Fill American oak and a further 3 years in fresh Claret
The nose opens with a seriously fishy and briny note, followed by redcurrant, earth, mocha, with the fruit moving into a herbal territory, and becoming more overt as time passes. However the briny note sticks around to offer some sort of balance. The claret notes finally move into a perfumed spectrum and heavy wood notes appear. Although it sounds heavy on the cask finish, it does retain a balance.
Light and oily on the palate. In a reversal of the nose the Claret kicks off with earthy redcurrant, soft resiny wood (pine?) and more than a soupcon of tannin. The alcohol builds and hits the middle with an intensity of briny, apricot and yellow fruit. It’s this intensity that stops the Claret cask from totally dominating. And by now it is adding some delightful clove and soft spice accents. The finish is pretty dry and a touch woody.
Some water emphasises the Claret on the nose. The fruit has a more perfumed/ floral edge and there is now the barest hint of some creamy Bourbon. On the palate it is softer, sweeter and more winey, but like the nose a creamy bourbon note comes out to play. The earthy spices on the middle really come into play as the alcohol is toned down and the red fruit lazily drifts back, before finishing with the brine and a suggestion (finally!) of peat. All in all very enjoyable.
GENERAL ROUND UP
Single Malts of Scotland
Highland Park 13 year old 46%
Bourbon
A pleasant nose, crisp and briny with loads of heather infused honey, menthol and herbs with a noticeable peat note at the edges. Over time it develops quite a candied sweetness and the vanilla oak emerges.
Soft on the palate, very dry with gentle herbal honey, brine, cream soda and heather. Opens into a good, fishy, briny middle imbued with a soupcon of peat. Lovely length with salty rose water and the oak bittering out at the death, leaving a coffee-hessian-bung cloth after taste. Not bad for a bourbon casked HP.
Speciality Drinks Elements of Islay
AR1 (Ardbeg) 58.7%
A full on rounded, buttery, earthy nose with herbal peat and pure loamy aromas. Big, rich, honeyed fruit underpins the developing rubber, iodine and fishy notes. Finally moving into violet scented soap and light spice territory. Although no age statement is given I would guess at between 10-12 years old. It definitely has a touch of maturity
Soft and a touch winey on the palate. This is followed by the trademark coastal bonfires, coal/ peat dust and charred wood embers. Quiet alcoholic and fishy. Superb intensity on the middle with the fresh leafy, herbal, bog myrtle, menthol taking the breath away. A fleeting orange note passes and although the alcohol is intense it is not overly intrusive. Lovely rich depth and a long, oily, salty finish with the burnt wood and smoke returning.
With water it seems a lot younger now, with an abundance of ‘off the still’ cereal and grist by the bucketful. Once again that mysterious orange fruit note makes a brief appearance, and maybe it’s a bit more sweeter and a tad soapier, but there is definitely more violets!
The palate mirrors the nose with lots of cereal, grist and violets. It’s become very sweet, quite sugary and confected. Hmm not like Ardbeg now! Neat it’s great with water not so!
Inchgower 14 year old 43%
Diageo Flora & Fauna bottling
A clean, linear nose, slightly spirity with plenty of barley sugar and some pleasant orange fruit. Pleasantly fresh with hints of honey and toasty caramel. The palate is quiet sweet-ish, opening with rose water and barley sugar. The malt builds pleasantly into a drying, mouth puckering saline/ botanical finish. The oak bitters out and there is smidge of coffee-oak in the after taste. Straightforward and unpretentious, ideal filler material.
Glen Elgin 12 year old 43%
Diageo Classic Malts
A fresh, fruity nose of apricot and yellow fruit with herbal honey accents. Pleasant with a slight creaminess. The palate opens with a mountain of oak, which to be frank pummels any other flavours into submission. And bitters out the finish. It’s all a bit dull. I wondered whether this was just a poor batch as the colour had an odd olive oil green tinge to it.
NEXT TIME ON THE NEWSLETTER
Well that’s it for now. As you probably know, the Newsletter is an ongoing, almost organic accumulation of one’s musings and tastings, but there comes a time when one just has to pull it all together into a coherent format, that I hope is not too long and verbose!
So in the next newsletter there will be a couple of new-ish Arran’s, some more Islay’s and some new releases from James MacArthur and Bladnoch.
So until next time, I hope you enjoyed the ramblings and feel inspired to give some of the reviewed drams a try, maybe with the exception of the Mellow Corn!!!!!!!
Regards
Chris Goodrum
Visit Gauntleys at www.gauntley-wine.co.uk
