2015 Ermitage de l'Oree Blanc

Full bottle 1,384 g. Certified biodynamic. From a very hot year. 60- to 70-year-old Marsanne form Les Murets. Very old fluvioglacial alluvial deposits. After pressing, the must is cold-settled for 24 hours. About 50% is vinified in 600-litre wooden barrels with regular stirring; the rest in 'vats'. Matured on lees for 10 to 12 months, with stirring for six months. Rich, beeswax nose but with some obvious tension too. Round and honeyed. This is a complex wine that will need careful food-matching. Shellfish perhaps? And we'll try it with a creamy chicken-liver parfait tonight. Special wine, full-bodied but refreshing and almost nervy. Light bitterness on the end. (JR)

Vivid yellow-gold. Powerful, mineral-accented orange, melon, white peach, toasted brioche and iodine scents show impressive focus and vivacity. Displays a compelling blend of depth and energy, offering concentrated, mineral-tinged citrus and pit fruit, honey and candied fig flavors complemented by a subtle anise quality. Finishes with outstanding focus and lift, leaving behind suave floral and mineral notes.

Limpid gold. Pungent Meyer lemon, candied pear and vanilla scents show superb clarity and complicating hints of anise and smoky lees. Minerally and precise on the palate, offering densely packed pear, lemon curd and marzipan flavors and deeper suggestions of buttered toast and honey that build as the wine opens up. Shows superb energy and delineation and finishes supple and extremely long, with a lingering floral note.