2009 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
From a warm site and a hot vintage, the 2009 Ermitage le Meal Blanc was harvested on the August 28, and aged in 100% new French oak. Flirting with perfection and a full-bore, exotic, almost over-the-top expression of Marsanne, it has less minerality than the 2010, yet more of everything else with boatloads of caramelized fruits, buttered citrus, white flowers, honey and crushed rocks all soaring from the glass. Rich, layered, exuberant, unctuous and exotic, with stunning freshness despite it's thickness and weight, drink this incredible white anytime over the coming 30-40 years.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Vivid gold. Tropical fruits, honeysuckle and ginger on the highly fragrant nose. Lush and round in the mouth, offering honey-accented pineapple and guava flavors and a late kick of zesty spices. Shows an impressive blend of richness and vivacity and finishes with remarkable focus and lingering spiciness.
Bright gold. Exotic aromas of papaya, apricot and melon, with pungent floral and spice qualities. Deeply fruity and round, offering citrus-accented pit and tropical fruit flavors and a strong spicy quality on the back end. Finishes smooth, with lingering suggestions of turmeric and saffron.
The 2009 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc exhibits more exotic tropical fruit (mango, orange blossom and nectarine) as well as white currants. Very intense with slightly lower acid than l’Oree, and a rounder, more corpulent, fleshy mouthfeel, this mind-boggling white Hermitage admirably demonstrates why, in the late eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his diary that white Hermitage was the greatest dry white wine made in France. Robert Parker, Wine Advocate February 2011