Laurent Cazottes Goutte de Prunelart

This is sublime. Pomace brandies have a purpose. That purpose is to remind us that taste is a child of smell, and that smell is the most emotionally resonant of the senses. This is why we drink pomace brandies at the end of a meal: they prod us with alcoholic bite to remember that what we taste makes us feel things; that those things can be profound; and that those feelings can ratify communion with our fellows. I drink this and I feel a sense of strangeness, and distress, and beauty, and magnificence. It is as potent as it is voluptuious and warming: purple fruit, almonds, lavender, cured pork. A kaleidoscope of flavors and aromas, none of them domineering, all of them softened by the presence of each other into a quiet harmony. Stunning work from a brilliant producer.