One white wine was offered for tasting, the 2005 Chaleur Estate Blanc. It is composed of 79% Sauvignon Blanc and 21% Semillon, was raised in 100% new French oak, went through full malolactic, and aging sur-lie with batonnage. The result is a wine that could easily pass for a top Pessac-Leognan such as Fieuzal or Smith-Haut-Lafitte. Light gold-colored with a superb perfume of fresh herbs, melon, butterscotch, and spring flowers, this is followed by a plush wine with palate-coating flavors, excellent depth, and a long finish. This wine may evolve in the manner of a top white Bordeaux but it is difficult to resist now. www.delillecellars.com

A rich, golden, toasty, hedonistic wine. Ripe and loaded with gorgeous fruit: sweet citrus, pineapple, grapefruit, peach and stone fruit. As it moves through the palate it’s laced with smoke and toast, while the fruit core expands into marmalade and tupelo honey, and the wine grows unctuous and creamy. Doesn’t taste like a young wine, but it certainly will continue to round out and develop further in the bottle. ——P.G.(3/1/2007)—— 94