Andrew Jefford: Ebony, with a walnut rim; saturated depth. Very casky here, and the effect is to occlude the sweetness and put a woody, smoky, faintly burned complexity in its place. The smell of age and time and long-forgotten forests. Inspiring. Hugely weighty on the palate: a steamroller, pressing black chocolate and dark caramel, sultanas and figs, dark honey, and licorice into your tongue. It doesn’t quite have the aromatic complexity of [Campbells Merchant Prince Rare Rutherglen Muscat] but is a remarkable tour de force nonetheless, using the wood notes as effectively as any wine we have scrutinized today 17.5

Richard Mayson: Very deep opaque mahogany, with the thinnest olive-green rim; deep, pungent, powerfully concentrated, with a touch of rancio here on the nose, lifted, too; again that wonderful textural concentration immediately evident, liquorous, intense—raisins, but something more, which keeps leaving me lost for words. How do you put words to a wine as rich and intense as this? 18.5 Jancis Robinson: Dark russet brown. Treacly tangy, with real vigor and amazing age. Almost uncomfortable to taste because it is so old, but the sweetness still keeps it drinkable. Essence of prune juice? Drink 1980–2015 17.5