2018 - Hermitage Blanc, Jean Louis Chave

Chave's 2018 Hermitage Blanc, now that it's been blended and bottled for over a year, smashed my already lofty expectations. Showing a wonderfully delicate and intricate nose of white flowers, toasted grain and white peach, it's also impeccably balanced. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, it nevertheless comes across as almost weightless but with amazing presence and length on the palate. If you're fortunate enough to latch onto multiple bottles, open one now to experience this legend as a young wine, then try to hide the others deep in the cellar.

Tasted in components. #1) Rocoules Haut: A touch of iodine, smoky, mineral-accented orchard and pit fruits on the nose and palate. Chewy and precise, with no excess fat and a building mineral flourish. #2) Rocoules mid-slope: Taut and energetic in style, showing very good depth to its juicy Anjou pear, yellow apple and honeysuckle flavors. Plays richness off of energy with a steady hand. #3) Rocoules Bas: Nectarine, honey and floral qualities are sharpened by a suggestion of orange zest. Weighty yet precise, with a jolt of minerality adding back-end grip. #4) Peleat: Lively and precise, offering intense citrus, orchard fruit flavors, building iodine and smoky mineral nuances. Very long and tight, with a sexy floral nuance emerging steadily. #5) Peleat old vines: Deeply perfumed pear nectar and orange marmalade qualities on the nose and palate. Becomes livelier with a bit of air and shows fine delineation on the back half. These vines are at least 120 years old, Jean-Louis Chave told me. #6) Ermite: Emphatically mineral and precise on the nose, displaying vibrant Meyer lemon, white peach and floral qualities and a strong mineral overtone. Chewy and tightly wound, with superb depth, serious closing energy and repeating florality.

Cask samples tasted at the domaine.Sample cuvée 1: Péleat. Peachy, mineral, fleshy. Apple fruit on the palate. Soft acid with a nutty aftertaste.Sample cuvée 2: Roucoles. Waxy, saline, lemon, apple. Herby and salty on the finish. Medium bodied and smooth.Sample cuvée 3: L'Érmite; 65-year-old vines. Baked apple, salt, fresh acid and granitic complexity. Super-fresh and layered. Warm on the finish. Complex and intriguing. (RH)