I personally selected this cask, with a long finish of over 36 months in first fill Pedro Ximenez, as a textbook example of the richly fruity character of this Speyside distillery, in a variation of style which perfectly suits my taste. There is plenty of fruit salad at the nose: pears, apricots and the juice of ripe blood oranges. The winey note is there, but it’s really the fruits that stand out. We can find a very similar impression at the palate: only moderately winey, and again plenty of pears, apples, oranges, peaches, apricots. The sweetness also seems to add notes of sultana raisins, as expected from this kind of finish. It becomes slightly drier and nuttier in the finale, but the overall style remains markedly smooth, creamy, and very well balanced, with no tannic excesses.