Intense from the off, with a penetrating nose and finish, scored with ozone, smelling salts, whetstone and a whiff of sulphur. Let there be no doubt this comes from a volcanic, Atlantic island! Flavours of apricot chutney, mustard seed, mahogany and Fernet-Branca-like herbs etch the palate. The sweetness (110g/l), honeyed and delicate, deftly keeps pace with a rapier-like charge of steely, grapefruity acidity (9g/l total acidity). Terrific precision and purity.

Offering up aromas of candied dates, warm spices, cigar smoke, candied peel and aromatic wood, the 1981 Malmsey is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with an elegantly satiny attack, good depth at the sweet but attractively savory core and a long, penetrating but subtly drying finish.