2010 M. Chapoutier, Hermitage, l’Ermite Blanc 1x750ml

Vinous 96

(100% marsanne, from ungrafted vines, many of which reportedly pre-date phylloxera): Vivid gold. Explosive, mineral-drenched aromas of nectarine, poached pear, honey and anise, with a smoky overtone. Completely coats the palate with deeply concentrated orchard and pit fruit flavors and picks up bright chalk and floral nuances with air. As much a solid as a liquid, and yet the wine shows an uncanny litheness and precision. Finishes sappy, incisive and relentlessly long, leaving iodine, pear and floral notes behind, eventually. [Josh Raynolds, 01/03/2013]

Robert Parker 100

The 2010 Ermitage l’Ermite Blanc, which comes from pure granite soils, is a perfect wine. This awesome white, made from pre-phylloxera vines that are not grafted onto American root stocks, offers notes of acacia flowers, orange and nectarine oils, a liquid rock-like component and a full-bodied, multidimensional and multilayered finish. As the great French wine critic Michel Bettane said about l’Ermite in many different vintages, it is “greater than the greatest Montrachet.” This is a 50- to 75-year white wine. [Robert Parker, 12/01/2012]