2015 Ermitage Blanc Le Reverdy

Bright straw-gold. Aromas of poached pear and yellow peach are complicated by orange zest, honey and floral nuances. Sappy and broad in the mouth, offering ripe, mineral-laced orchard and pit fruit flavors, along with a suggestion of orange zest that adds bite on the back half. Clings with excellent tenacity on a long, chewy finish that leaves behind subtle floral and honey notes.

More backward, concentrated and closed, yet just loaded with potential, the 2015 Ermitage Le Reverdy is—I suspect— the finest white I’ve tasted from this estate. Coming from the Beaume and le Méal lieux-dits and an even split of Marsanne and Roussanne, brought up in a mix of stainless steel and demi-muids, it has full-bodied richness, a liqueur of rocks-like aromatic profile, integrated acidity and sensational purity. It will have two decades or more of life.