Puchang Vineyard Turpan Valley Muscat 2018 

100% Muscat. Hand picked and fermented in French oak before maturation in the same for 12 months before bottling. Medium gold colour with rose gold tones. This is richly aromatic and heady on first smell, with notes of manuka honey,  ripe honey blossom, beeswax, lychee rice pudding, salted peanut brittle and turmeric. Quite a unique and interesting aromatic profile. There’s some gentle toastiness, too, thanks to fermentation and 12 month maturation in French oak. The palate is dry, full bodied, sapid and textural with lovely restraint while still intense. Toasted almond, quality honey, lychee, cracked wheat and salted biscuit are wrapped up in a sheath of resinous phenolics bringing a gastronomic edge through a long, bitter finish. At seven years, this is an unctuous albeit dry style, but man has it got some complexity and intrigue. Packed with interest.