Ermitage Le Méal Blanc, Maison M. Chapoutier 2009

Other than being slightly riper the nose is quite similar to that of the straight Gevrey cuvée. By contrast, this is denser and more powerful with a bit more tannic scaffolding as well on the robust, mouth coating and impressively persistent finish where the rusticity is more pronounced. This is a first-rate villages and well-worth considering.

The 2009 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc (844 cases) offers up aromas and flavors of tomato confit, white peaches, honeysuckle, acacia flowers, licorice and anise. Deep, full-bodied and textured, with superb intensity as well as richness, it is the most exotic, tropical fruit-flavored Ermitage from Chapoutier in 2009. Enjoy it over the next 25-30 years.

The 2009 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc exhibits more exotic tropical fruit (mango, orange blossom and nectarine) as well as white currants. Very intense with slightly lower acid than l'Oree, and a rounder, more corpulent, fleshy mouthfeel, this mind-boggling white Hermitage admirably demonstrates why, in the late eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his diary that white Hermitage was the greatest dry white wine made in France.