Taster

Nose: Sweet pastries, almond slices with a ripple of raspberry jam, tobacco leaves, humidors and antique cedar chests.

Palate: Mouth-coatingly oily and packed with honey-coated cashew nuts. Spices start to build, chilli honey and clove-spiked roast hams.

Finish: All those spices build to a crescendo, it dries really fast leaving nutty sweetness.

Comment: Like opening a jar of hazel-infused olive oil and coating a hot roasted ham. Lush.

Score: 8.9

Taster

Nose: Eve’s pudding and piña colada, malted milk and gingerbread. Almost rum-like tropical notes balanced by sweet cereal and clove. A bar of Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut, too.

Palate: Sweet, sour and just a little spicy. Creamy at first, those tropical notes return with the merest hint of sour fruit, almost instantly balanced by honey sweetness. Gentle tannin emerges with a touch of allspice. The effect is moreish.

Finish: The tropical notes linger, then dry out as the tannins build.

Comment: This is a solid sipper.

Score: 8.4