M. Chapoutier’s Ermitage l’Ermite Blanc is one of the rarest and most extraordinary white wines produced anywhere in France: a pure Marsanne from the Ermite lieu-dit at the summit of the Hermitage hill, where 80-year-old and older vines grow on poor, granitic soils next to the famous chapel that gives the Hermitage appellation its silhouette and its mystique. Chapoutier produces l’Ermite Blanc from approximately 0.4 hectares of biodynamically farmed old vines, yielding no more than 150 cases in even the most generous years. The combination of the site’s granite soils, the variety’s natural resistance to over-ripeness and the estate’s low-intervention vinification in demi-muids produces a white wine of extraordinary mineral concentration, longevity and aromatic complexity that Robert Parker, who awarded the wine 100 points in multiple vintages, described as representing ‘perfection in white wine.’

The 2005 northern Rhône vintage was exceptional: a warm, concentrated year that produced white Hermitage of outstanding richness without sacrificing the natural acidity and mineral character that distinguishes the finest Hermitage blanc from the more opulent white wines of the Midi. At the l’Ermite site specifically, where the granitic soils and the natural austerity of very old Marsanne vines modulate even the warmest growing seasons, 2005 produced a white wine of formidable concentration and structure that is only now entering its optimal drinking window after two decades of slow development in bottle. The wine-searcher aggregate for the 2005 l’Ermite Blanc is 95/100, reflecting the consistently high critical assessment of this vintage across approved publications.

A 2005 Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite Blanc is among the rarest and most historically important white wines from the northern Rhône available in any format. It is not a wine of immediate pleasure; it is a wine of extraordinary depth, complexity and geological character that speaks to twenty years of slow evolution on granitic Hermitage soil. For those who seek genuine white wine greatness from one of France’s most historic vineyard sites in a year of outstanding quality, this is one of the most significant acquisitions in the catalogue.

Deep gold with a complex, mineral-dominated nose of lemon confit, white truffle, almond, beeswax, saffron, acacia honey and the haunting granite mineral character of the Ermite terroir. Full-bodied with extraordinary natural acidity providing freshness alongside the wine’s rich concentration, tremendous mineral depth and a very long, complex, nutty finish of great nobility. Drink now through 2045.