Fouquet’s 2005 Vouvray Cuvee Silex smells scintillatingly of buddleia, jellied white currants, lemon pip and mint. Utterly transparent in the mouth billowing to floral perfume and salt-stone minerality, this refreshes mind and palate with the utmost subtlety and complexity, its balance uncanny and its message eloquent. (Incidentally, at only five grams residual sugar, it is significantly drier than the past couple of renditions of this cuvee, but with some encouragement from his importer, Fouquet achieved a level that permits mineral character to shine through, and perfectly complements the inherent generosity of the vintage.) If there is a more spectacular price:quality rapport on offer anywhere in the world of white wine, please tell me! For some time now, Berhard Fouquet has been moving the quality of his distinctive, largely stainless steel-rendered Vouvrays into the exalted echelon of Foreau and Huet, which is to say challenging any of the world’s finest practitioners of white wine, and at an absolutely unbeatable price:quality ratio. His latest results all but confirm his arrival.Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800