NOSE Quite oily wood greets you, with an added vinous element reminiscent of cherry-like red fruits. There’s good depth – leather, saddle soap, treacle, alongside bitter chocolate that slowly gives way to walnut bread, then brown banana and, with water, malted milk.
PALATE Rounded, thick and pretty sweet. The flavour starts like a half-melted Milky Way, then the cereal gives a crunch to the mid-palate, before heavy red and black fruit syrup softens things once more and adds length. It can cope with a little water, which pulls down the alcohol, accentuates this balance between the crisp cereal and the rich dried fruits.
FINISH Raisined and long.
CONCLUSION There’s a mix of wine and Sherry casks being used here, but it never tips over into jammy fruit juice territory. Layered and complex.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME Uncle Monty’s wine cellar?