Nose: Sweet, honeyed cereal. Nuts, sweet white grapes and barley sugar. Apricots, orange zest and vanilla emerge over time. Water develops a light peach aroma. Palate: Sweet but drying on the entry - elegant and austere rather than voluptuous, which the nose might lead you to expect. Cereal and malt in the development which turns from cereal towards woody in the finish. There are, however, many sweet and honeyed fruit notes on the mid-palate with orange oil and vanilla particularly on display. Some tannic spice lunges forward towards the finish but the texture is creamy and full. Finish: Medium. Sweet and fruity, even crisp in a way. The aftertaste is rather like over-brewed English breakfast tea, but it's nice in context. The nose is particularly sweet and fragrant - very honeyed and luscious and a particularly good example of a non-sherried full-bodied "fruity" nose. The palate is creamy and fruity but with a spicy note that takes over in mid-palate and may seem a little too dominant. I did not notice any particularly smoky aspect to the profile at all - maybe some barrel char, but no reek. Water reacts oddly here, bringing out both sweet and bitter/spicy notes on the palate. In fact, overall it's a development of sour malty cereal characteristics more than anything else. Interesting, but perhaps a little challenging. I'd rate this between the 12 year sherry wood and the 10 year old. Tasted from a 30ml sample. "Above Average" : 82/100 (3.25 stars)