The 2001 Ermitage le Meal Blanc continues to impress and I've had numerous bottles over the past couple of years and they've all shown beautifully. Honeyed and caramelized, with lots of white peach, mint, orange blossom and smoke, it's full-bodied, ripe and layered on the palate, with perfect balance between its layers of fruit and acidity. My notes finished with "beautiful wine."

The 2001 Ermitage Le Meal is more delineated, smoky, and citrusy, with less fat and unctuosity than the 2000. Nevertheless, it is a big, thickly-textured effort with huge notes of ripe honeysuckle, pear, and peach. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020. These uncompromising offerings from a young genius are not meant for consumers who want something to drink immediately. They are the essence of bio-dynamically farmed vineyard sites cropped incredibly low, given extended fermentations with indigenous yeasts, and rarely touched until they go into the bottle unfined and unfiltered. In most vintages, the wines are not even racked off their lees, which only adds to their natural style. These are truly remarkable wines, but for most readers, patience is the operative rule as they generally need a good 8-10 years to strut their stuff.Once moribund, over the last 12 years, this firm has become one of the reference points for nearly all the Rhone Valley appellations since the brash yet immensely talented Michel Chapoutier took over in the late eighties. The single vineyard offerings are as good as Rhone Valley wines can be. Moreover, Chapoutier continues to upgrade the quality of those wines offered in more significant quantities than the 500 or so cases each of the single vineyard offerings.Importer: Paterno Imports, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900

At five years of age, this is still a young wine, keeping much of its appeal firmly under wraps. The tight aromas and flavors only gradually reveal hints of their future grandeur in tantalizing glimpses of honey, anise, orange peel and pineapple. Yet the neverending length and pronounced minerality to this wine’s finish leaves no doubt of its ultimate quality. Try after 2010? ——J.C.(11/15/2006)—— 94