It seems like a wine cask, but it’s not – a fascinating example of the re-charred cask. The nose gave us plum pie, baked apple with clove, Grand Marnier, rum punch, Marsala and brandy-soaked raisins for the Christmas cake. The palate had dates, prunes and roasted peach, Madeira wine and cinder toffee. The reduced nose was visceral and deep – lilies in the night, brown sugar remnants in an espresso cup, blackcurrant jam and cigar boxes. With water the sweetness intensified on the palate – cherry Bakewell, treacly flapjacks, rhubarb rock and pomegranate molasses, with a clean finish of cinnamon, clove and tobacco.