| Rich Howard | the nose is immediately very fruity, the obvious sherry influence presenting with loads of honeydew melon, and a some more "exotic" fruits, like kiwi, papaya and lychee. with time, the melon notes remain, but mostly fade into something a bit more citrusy, and there are some pleasantly sour cranberry notes to balance. i'm also getting some intermittent deep and earthy vegetal base notes... wet ferns, fresh mushrooms, celery and even potatoes. (you have to smell "through" the all the fruit to get them...) the palate delivers on the tangy fruit, cranberries and also the earthier base notes. a fairly unusual profile... a drop of water kind of "integrates" the nose, dampening the fruit somewhat and drawing out the vegetal qualities. the palate is sweeter, less tangy, and quite drinkable. summary: a unique and interesting dram, with plenty of exotic fruit. the subtle vegetal "fresh potato" notes on the nose do throw me off somewhat... [tasted blind for the 2011 Awards] |
