Nose: Red wine cask, oily malt, cherry cola, cranberry juice, linseed oil. A rich and very red-fruit and grape oriented nose, which is not surprising. Palate: Drying arrival, oaky and tannic as of grape and walnut skins and stewed black tea. Olive oil, lemon oil and bitter dusty cocoa in the development. Dried figs, tobacco, and black pepper towards the finish. The texture is oily and full. Finish: Medium. The dry palate slowly gains a little sweetness as it moves into the finish but there is lingering oaky astringency. The nose on this was excellent and promised rich malty and grape flavours, but the palate was too tannic for my taste. This was over-oaked IMHO and should have been bottled at about 10 years of age. Water does little for the nose, apart from diminishing it, but greatly improves the palate by softening the tannins and developing a little sweetness. However the bitter tannic tang is never quite restrained. Other reviews have been more complimentary about this expression but for me it was just barely high average. Maybe I had a bad sample? My best advice would be to try a taste of this before buying a bottle. Tasted from a 15ml sample. “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)