An interesting maturation journey this one – 17 years in a port pipe and then transferred into a 2nd fill HTMC (high toast, medium char) puncheon.
Nose: Immediate richness - dark chocolate sauce, oozing Dulce de leche and creamy toffee spread over waffles. Pink wafer biscuits and buttered popcorn sit with toffee-coated apples, maraschino cherries, toasted cereals and baked bread. Dilution unlocks further sweetness with orange peels, molasses, ginger beer and breadiness from yeasty and doughy buns.
Taste: Juicy strawberries and raspberries are joined by plums and greengages whilst moist earthiness from vines and damp moss adds intrigue. The development moves towards toffee, custard cream biscuits and vanilla Chantilly alongside creamy fudge and French toast. Reduction brings the fruits further forward – berries and stone fruits with spiced orange slices and sugar dusted flans.
Finish: Long with creamy fudge livened by crystalline ginger.
The recent spate of peated Glenturret’s have all be pretty exceptional – this ex-port/ex-char bottling continues that excellence but in an entirely different fashion. Lushness and fullness combined with bright and discernible fruitiness and plenty of sticky sugars. Joint pick of the month.