Absolutely prodigious, with both blockbuster richness and an inherent weightlessness and elegance that shows how successful the vintage was for whites, the 2006 Hermitage Blanc offers incredible minerality as well as notes of white currants, buttered stone fruits and hints of honeycomb in a rich, layered, thrillingly pure style. It's drinking gorgeously today, but certainly has two decades of life remaining. This might be a dessert island white for me and count yourself lucky if you have a few bottles of this elixir in the cellar.

Intense, rich and remarkably focused, this offers stunning purity of fruit, such as Jonagold apple and Cavaillon melon, along with enticing heather honey, roasted macadamia nut, orange blossom and dried persimmon notes, all laid over a dense but brilliantly defined palate. The nearly endless finish of beeswax and buttered brioche is absolutely fantastic. Drink now or hold for a decade. Perhaps the best white produced here to date. Best after 2019. 1,050 cases made. -JM