Apart from the 12yo and anCnoc 16yo, there’s always a vintage in the core range (around 14 years old).
anCnoc 1996 (46%, OB 2011)
Nose: clean but definitely more sherried than the 12yo or 16yo – especially more nutty notes (hints of peanut butter). There a dry and slightly musty side to it, but there’s still honey and garden fruits from the bourbon casks (nice red apples, peaches). Vanilla. Pollen. Over time it shows a little mocha and toffee. Quite assertive as well.
Mouth: sweet to start, then developing a unique fruitiness (pears, a little raspberry). Creamy mouthfeel. Slightly candied (lokum). Demarara sugar. Again a few nutty hints. Some fruit tea and soft spices.
Finish: quite long, drier with a spicy kick and citrus notes.
This is simply a well-made malt – the best of the current range in my opinion although the 12yo is better value for money. They may not cause a lot of fuss, but anCnoc makes high-quality no-nonsense whisky.
I see what you mean, it's full-flavoured but that doesn't make it a winter dram for me. It's more on garden fruits than dry fruits and it lacks spices to call it wintery. Sure it's sherried, but far from heavy sherry in my opinion.
Ruben, For me it is due to the nuttiness more of a wintery dram, but hey, taste differs and we both seem to like it as our scores are almost the same. But I have a question for you : What do you mean by the colour = Chardonnay ? In my humble opinion Chardonnay isn't a colour, but either a grape or a type of wine, both of which can vary in colour (for exemple grape: unripe to overripe; the wine : young metal cask matured to old(er) oak cask matured, even the region defines the final colour of the wine) so as a description of a colour it is to me not very usefull. I'm allways struggling with the description of the colour, so what do you think about this discussion ?