2005 E. Guigal Ermitage Ex Voto Blanc

A wine I’ve been lucky enough to have numerous times over the past year, the 2005 Hermitage Ex Voto Blanc is right in the middle of its drink window and has classic aromatics of sautéed stone fruits, buttered nuts, caramel, toasted bread and even a hint of licorice. Voluptuous, rounded and sexy, it’s a quintessential Hermitage Blanc that does everything right. Drink it over the coming 10-15+ years.

(93% marsanne and 7% roussanne, raised for 30 months in new barriques Light yellow. Kaleidoscopic bouquet of singed orange, musky herbs, potpourri, brown butter, smoky minerals, tarragon and fresh bay. Weighty citrus and dried pit fruit and cherry(!) flavors are complicated by candied licorice, botanical herbs and toasted grain, completely saturating the palate. This has the texture of a red wine, and some of the same flavors too, but there's also striking finesse and clarity. The finish clings endlessly, repeating the smoke and mineral notes.

Light gold. A stunning bouquet offers powerful pear, peach pit, anise, salty minerality and a huge wallop of smoky peat-this smells like an Islay whisky! Painfully concentrated pit fruit flavors are complemented by orange peel, clove and smoked meat, but there's an elegance to this that's reminiscent of a top-notch Burgundy. A simply remarkable wine, with uncanny complexity and depth of flavor.