Guigal Hermitage Ex Voto Blanc 2005

"Light gold. A stunning bouquet offers powerful pear, peach pit, anise, salty minerality and a huge wallop of smoky peat-this smells like an Islay whisky! Painfully concentrated pit fruit flavors are complemented by orange peel, clove and smoked meat, but there's an elegance to this that's reminiscent of a top-notch Burgundy. A simply remarkable wine, with uncanny complexity and depth of flavor."
-International Wine Cellar 96-98

"Along with the late Thomas Jefferson, Guigal has always believed that white Hermitage is France's greatest white wine. With his recent acquisitions of superb vineyard sites, he is hell-bent on proving to the world that Jefferson was correct – that white Hermitage is an amazing as well as long-lived wine. In top vintages, two cuvees are produced, the regular offering (usually a blend of primarily Marsanne with a touch of Roussanne) and the luxury cuvee called Ex-Voto, which is generally 95% Marsanne and 5% Roussanne from two stunning vineyards. Eighty percent comes from Les Murets (regarded as one of the appellation's finest white wine vineyards) and 20% from l'Ermite."
Wine Advocate 95-97