Colour:  Orangey copper

Nose:  Full-bodied, unctuous. On the first nose, notes of apricot, cherries in brandy, white peach and raisin drive aromas of malted barley, iodine, smoke and dried peat into the background. Soon, however, more balance arrives. Allowed to breathe, pepper, salted butter caramel, chocolate, orange and heady florals (hyacinth, peony) bring the aroma palette lots of sophistication.

Palate:  Clear, precise. On the attack, now-rooty peat (gentian), ash and camphor appear alongside milk chocolate, heather honey, quince jelly and apricot coulis. The chocolate gradually becomes dark (100% cocoa). The mid-palate is equipped with a superb mouth-watering bitterness, allowing glimpses of a lemony and fruity (pear) spirit. At the end of the palate, sublime flavours of honeysuckle and gillyflower spread through the air.

Finish:  Long, very serene. The slightly meaty start of the finish (bacon, leather) is above all covered in a fine layer of ash. Chimney hearth is not far away. A certain minerality brings to mind the warmth of a firebrick. On the retro-nasal olfaction, exotic fruits (mango, guava) refresh the resinous (pine, Vosges cough sweets), earthy and balsamic (sherry vinegar) finish. The empty glass is camphoric, spicy (star anise), liquorice and herbaceous (peated malted barley).