St Agnes

XO Grand Reserve 40 Year Old 700mL

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  Vintage
  97 points Halliday Wine Companion

At 40 years in thecask, you'd expect the oak to take over from theunderlying grape spirit, and this certainly expresses more woodiness than its younger siblings. However, the integrationis spectacular, with that same creamy softness letting you know not to be afraid of the big, bad age. Rum and raisin ice cream on sticky date pudding with a splash of grand marnier comes to mind, and as you would hope from a spirit of this age, you could spend ages justnosing before feeling the need to take a sip. The oak certainly starts to dominate on thepalate with a powerfulthrough line of armatic tannin. This is an end of thenight drink to be sure as it would be hard to go backwards from the powerful oak, but again, the texture and candied orange sweetness are there to hold it in check. superb

• 

  Vintage
  96 points

Released to celebrate the 90th anniversary of St Agnes, the evidence of its years begins to show now as the colour deepens into a darker amber to mahogany. The nose covers a lot of ground: dried pear and apricot, quite fruity at first, the top notes spilling over into the palate where the spice rack reveals nutmeg, a bit of clove, vanilla, and roast hazelnut, with a sweeter seam of butterscotch and pipe tobacco leaf entwined in a subtle cedary matrix. Complex, satisfying, with plenty revealed in every sip