22/11/2022 Arran

Lochranza 8yo (unknown ABV, blend of cask samples, ex-Sassicaia Casks): leftover from that tasting, last June. Nose: very quiet, though it still manages to emit a delicate sweetness, something between peach tea and satsuma foliage. 'Foliage' seems too strong a word, at first, but a couple of sniffs reveal exactly that: citrus foliage. And, here it is: rich Italian wine slowly-but-steadily wraps all of the above in a growingly-heady bouquet that spells part earth, part fruit. Overripe quince, grape stems, clay, and still that peach tea, in the background, now coming closer to peach jelly than before. The second nose has a dusty layer coating everything else, probably sawdust or dried orange peel, ground into a powder. That almost masks a soothing note of flowery tea -- some kind of fruit blossom. Mouth: resolutely acidic, it strips the teeth clean without further ado. We have crushed peach stone, which brings a newfound bitterness, grape stems, grapefruit pith, and a pinch of earth. Digging deeper, one may detect chocolate too, closer to roughly-crushed cocoa beans than to pralines. The second sip welcomes oil cloth, an unexpected waxy cloak that wraps the citric character, and proves an adequate pairing for those cocoa beans. Finish: ooft! The finish definitely has cocoa beans, and they are supplemented with citrus zest -- yuzu or oroblanco would be my guesses. It is acidic in a fruity way, and that works very well to tame the root-y bitterness of the cocoa beans, which, by the way, become clearer with each gulp. Repeated sipping also enhances the citrus side; it is no longer zest alone, but whole segments (orange, grapefruit, pomelo), fresh and crystallised. What a wonderfully successful wine maturation! 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, MR)