This Mannochmore has spent its 8 year old life in a re-charred hogshead.
Nose: Toffee and caramel are joined by brandy butter and a cup of warm coffee, whilst berry Eaton Mess sits with wild honey, chopped field flowers and an interesting industrial greasiness. Dilution adds tart lemon and burnt pan sugars alongside meringue and herbalness form gorse.
Taste: Rich, sweet and with a background savouriness. Grapefruit, raspberries and plums all reduced into a sticky compote, alongside ground coffee beans and chopped almonds. The development is thought-provoking – gingerbread, leather satchels, axle grease and cough medicine moving steadily into greenhouse sweet/vegetalness before emerging with a lick of minerality. Water adds stem ginger, and brown cooking sugars alongside café latte and dry oakiness.
Finish: Medium with fading reduced fruits alongside ginger spicing and a pang of rocky outcrops.
A memorably lovely Mannochmore that is as well-judged as it is delicious. Stimulating, adventurous, responsive to water – and in amongst the cheapest of this month’s outturn. Worth your attention. Recommended.