Rozelieures Origine Collection

Nose: Cereal, pear (lots of pears), banana, hazelnut, chestnut, dried fruit, a little citrus and an infinitely small hint of smoke and vanilla. Palate: Young, sweet gristy cereal arrival. The development brings out the sherry influence with grape and mild fruit influences and an oily hint. There's an interesting mezcal-like vegetal fruit note, like green mango. An OK texture, maybe a touch watery, but a it's a very "young" profile. Finish: Short. A little spirity on the aftertaste, but crisp, sweet cereal remains. NOTE: Let this whisky sit in the glass for a while before tasting - for a young expression it responds very well to a little rest. This is a young and vigorous malt but it's by no means bad. You can, however, easily tell that it's a crisp and cereal-driven distillate given just a few years in very bright, fresh casks. It's surprisingly reminiscent of some young Australian whiskies, particularly Hellyer's Road. They share the same young cereal, lactic, gristy profile. G.Rozelieures started production in 2003 and are now the largest whisky distillery in France, but like many young distilleries they are still settling in and finding their voice (interestingly some young distilleries, like Wolfburn, seem to bypass this phase and go straight to creating magnificent whisky). They are doing as much as possible in-house, including their own maltings, and are energy sustainable. Good for them. Nice stuff, but I prophesy that this distillery has really only just taken it's first tentative steps. Watch them, in a couple of decades they will be doing some amazing things - just wait until they get their hands on some good ex-armagnac casks. This expression is fair value, selling here in Australia at prices that pit it against mid-shelf blended malts, and it puts up a good fight. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Much better nose than palate, with notes of dried fruit. There's a touch of salt and smoke as well. The overall impression is that this is an immature whisky, and the short finish doesn't help. Not my sort of thing, but overall ok.