Clynelish 25 yo 1993 / 2019 Gordon & MacPhail 19/079 54.3% vs Chollet Lot 1960 bottled 2020 ‘#4 Le bon vivant’ Fin Bois Malternative 46.3%
Another two wipeouts.
Clynelish 25 yo 1993 / 2019 Gordon & MacPhail 19/079 54.3%
An astringent but drily aromatic grapefruit pith, combined with grass sap and some petrol. Then white fruit, puddles of hot paraffin, green grape skins, sliced capsicums, and Darjeeling. This one is not a warm and waxy Clynelish, but its biting and acerbic side brings out things that are a little more phenolic, things like stony lichen, gritty grey dirt-crusted minerals assuaged by a drop of honey and smoking bark. Charcoal and old soot even. Is it garb o’auld Brora? Perhaps a little too aggressive for some, but for me: 91 pts
Chollet Lot 1960 bottled 2020 ‘#4 Le bon vivant’ Fin Bois Malternative 46.3%
An avalanche. Cocoa, anise, black pepper, nutmeg, dark fruit, kyoho grapes, blackcurrants, black plums and even a fairly large slice of musky cantaloupe a day past overripe. Loads of dark wood clearly, and filled with black tea, cracked peppercorns, black earth, perfumed lacquer, cedar, graphite etchings and some pitch like resin… No really, these 60 year old cognacs tend to be complex. Candied ginger, Cointreau, tobacco, could go on but why? Although I prefer fruitiness in cognac, and this one does lend itself to darker hues, it is no doubt verbose and beguilingly expressive. And so very easy on the palate. 89 pts
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