PORT ASKAIG 21 ans 1997 The Little Big Book

Nose : rich, unctuous. The first nose is focused on white florals (lily of the valley, lily), also revealing fruit (lemon, pear), honey (lavender) and candied notes (banana, pineapple). Peat then arrives to take the reins at exactly the right moment. It is oily, saline and creamy, almost milky (coconut). Allowed to breathe, camphor, liquorice, walnut husk, sleet and smoke envelop malted barley in a medicinal coating.

Palate : both lively and mellow. The particularly mineral (pencil lead) attack proudly launches an attack on a steep and rocky landscape. Peat melts beautifully into notes of tar, fresh walnut, and dried and heady (broom, heather) flowers. The oily (tapenade) mid-palate is unmistakably marine, before, like the nose, becoming very medicinal (mustard poultice, iodine tincture). The very end of the palate is lush (green malt, lucerne) and roasted (tea, tobacco).

Overall : long, rich. A true opportunity to taste a vanilla flan, the start of the finish also brings to mind a floating island dessert. After this delicious interlude, the flavour palette runs aground at the edge of the sea (seaweed, sea spray, sea aster). On the retro-nasal olfaction, peat returns as a pleasant memory for our taste buds, filling every section of the palate. The silky texture brings lots of bite. This leads to the appearance of a vegetal note at the same exact moment. The empty glass is clearly medicinal, camphoric, fruity (canary melon), floral (dandelion) and rooty (gentian).