SF | Intense colour, near amber, yet with a broad watery rim. Slightly cooked aromatic of caramel, toffee apple and even fudge; we have come some way down the line from digestive biscuits and Vegamite! On returning to the glass one iss struck by notes of ginger and boiled sweets, these also removed from the more traditional descriptors! The palate maintains this theme, yet with the appreciable benefits of a sappy, almost resinous sub-text, indicative of the workings of time on wood and the aldehydic environment. Whilst we have , it seems , come some way from the voice of a recent commercial bottling, one has lost little or none of the generic appeal and the complexity which underwrites the ongoing success of the category.... 92
AJ | Deep orange-gold. Yet another incarnation of this very mobile aromatic repertoire: more compote-like, stewy, mingled fruit, nut and fungus. It's clearly "good" in that sense -- there's lots there. But not quite classical or perhaps just beyond classical, perhaps mellowed out because older. I love the overall sweetness of scent you find here. Very concentrated on the palate, and obviously given a shove by the more generous fortification, too -- but it totally works since it carries so many flavoury essences on board. The 17% means you take it a bit more seriously, with a bit more respect, and that's what it merits. Maybe it also adds a sweet note which works terrifically well here with all that apricot and fungus and ferment and enzyme and nut, and it's another Manzanillo that encourages us to 'go magnum'. But note no longer "light".Drink Dates: 2024 - 2025. 93
DW | Deep in color, the nose a dense fug, the palate, rich, chewy yet dry - downwind from a seaside brewery, eating a bag of dark, plump dried raisins, which, as it turns out, is a deeply pleasurable experience.Drink Dates: 2024 - 2025. 95