Macallan 8 yo FLLI Rinaldi 43% 75cl vs Macallan 18 yo 1973 / 1991 43%
Macallan 8 yo FLLI Rinaldi 43% 75cl ~ circa 70s bottling
Perfect at 8. Really. Spiced nut cake, raspberry sauce, port wine coulis, dark chocolate, slice of candied orange, ganache, black tea. We know where this is headed and we’re loving it. On the tongue some dry branches, cold stove tops with just a dab of tannicity. Not a blockbuster sherry maturation of course, but rich and elegant in turns. In those days it was possible to have maturity at the tender age of 8. 88 pts
Macallan 18 yo 1973 / 1991 43%
These are very well regarded bottles, and rightly so. It’s a beautiful, rich and aromatic, dry but stickily purple nose flecked with the blacks of cocoa powder, tough barks, burnt leather, smeared soot, dry earth crusted roots. A little ring of oiled copper just to chime in these dried figs and sticky dates. So, soft but enveloping, elegant but lush, really a style that’s won a generation of drinkers who came for the deep richness and now leave with holes in their pockets. 90 pts
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