it all started with a wee sample swap with fellow whisky lover and blogger David Carson of ‘glenuntitled’. i fancies this one immediately, as a big Longrow / SB fan, and quite keen on the wine finishes. I remember one very good Longrow Gaja Barolo i reviewed long ago, and their peat and wine combo works very well in my opinion. This one is a aged 10 yo, at 58.9%, distilled 19-10-01 and is not sold other than at the distillery. too bad.
Longrow 10 yo Shiraz, 58.9% , not available commercially
Nose: Starts very sweet, and fruity, with sweet red fruit, grapes, lovely wine touches, and that Longrow peat which work so well (i really like the Longrow Gaja Barolo, remember?) . gummy bears and cloves.
Palate: First you feel the earthy peat, then the sugary sweet fruits kick in, with the berries , dark milk chocolate, chilly powder sugared citrus peels, dried fruit (plum, dates) and some smoke, and peat, but the peat is in the background and doesn’t not play first fiddle here, quiet a restrained Longrow, but well integrated. It’s hard to imagine this is a close to 60% dram. really nice.
Finish : Getting dry, but with quite some residual sugar, dried fruit, chocolate, peat . the sweet fruit and peat work nicely together.
Very good dram! lovely interplay between fruit, peat and sweetness, without getting too Tannin-y. .
Score: 89/100
many thanks to DC for this sample