The panel found this Cognac a most sophisticated nectar with light and fruity pear drops, fermenting apples, gooseberries and dessert pears with floral lavender oil, violets and a twist of fresh eucalyptus leaves. Then heady linseed oil on printer paper, artist’s varnish and almond oil came to the fore closely followed by freshly sawn pine wood and a dew-sprinkled Limousin oak forest at dawn.

The superbly clean palate trod a thin tightrope between fruity and dry as black cherries, fresh pomegranate, physalis and chili heat performed their dance. With water came herbal notes of rosemary and sage with rhubarb liqueur and dusty tannins.