Shinshu Mars The Revival Komagatake 2011 58% 2011

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (85)

hinshu’s the name of the place, it’s not extremely far from Nagano. Colour: white wine. Nose: not unpleasant, but pretty newmake-y, with some bubblegum, pear spirit, pineapple, and a faint grassiness in the background, as well as a rather delicate smokiness. That part starts to take more space after a few seconds, together with a few floral notes. Lilac, perhaps? Improves over time. With water: coal smoke on cider and custard. Again, not unpleasant at all. Mouth (neat): good sweet malt, with body and structure, quite some peat this time, but also a slightly bitter black pepper. A little acrid, but water should help. With water: it helps a lot! Plenty of sweet lemons, quince jelly, liquorice rolls and, perhaps heather honey. I find this almost perfect now, at 3 years of age. Finish: quite long, clean, with a bit of salt. Comments: it’s impressive what water did to this restless baby. Great spirit at only 3.

BOW (86)