Andrew Jefford: Clear walnut, with a hint of green at the rim. Fine, complex, well-aged aromas in which the time in cask (and the ambient warmth) have chased and refined the profile toward something you might sniff as you approach the library of the stately home or the wellendowed college. Old furniture, furniture polish, the recollection of a fine cigar two days later: I could sniff this for minutes. Rice and a Morocco-bound book; shy violets. On the palate, too, this aromatic profile is made flesh: wonderfully aromatic essences of time and wood and the memory of things past. Huge concentration—yet poised, too; there’s not a peep over the parapet from the spirit, and the sheer force of flavor seems to act as a kind of surrogate tannin of its own, lending the wine density and texture. The aromatic vapors are still hovering about your mouth a minute later. Very fine 18.:

Richard Mayson: Turning mahogany in color with a red glint and a thin green-tinged rim; forthright, pungent aromas, rich rancio character on the nose and on the palate. A touch of chocolate, too—intensely rich and sweet, powerful but not cloying, with a big, slightly soily autumnal finish retaining dusty tannins. A complex and powerful wine lacking a certain amount of finesse 16.5 Jancis Robinson: Lustrous yellow tawny. Sweet, heady, lightly treacly, with lots of glucose. Very sweet and slightly syrupy on the palate. Super-tangy. Lot of fun but doesn’t quite hang together as well as some of the best wines in this tasting. Obviously very longaged. Drink 1995–2015 17