The nose is vanilla, caramel, spices (maybe cinnamon), and dark cherry. The palate has some leather, but the stars are the vanilla and caramel, with some dark cherry and just a touch of spices. The finish starts with a blast of leather, then mellows out with the other flavors from the palate. Adding water eliminates the spices almost completely, but does take the edge off of the heat in the palate and finish.