Superdense, with lots of bass showing now--anise, fennel seed, cardamom, glazed pear and fig--but there's still plenty of minerality behind it all, with a long, salted butter finish that just won't quit. Best from 2010 through 2025.

More over the top and decadent than the Cuvee de l’Orée, the 2005 Ermitage le Meal Blanc has overflowing notes of celery seed, sautéed peaches, honeycomb and underlying minerality that literally come soaring from the glass. Full-bodied, thick, unctuous and hedonistic to the max, it lacks a touch of the precision found in the Cuvee de l’Orée, yet makes up for it in sheer hedonistic pleasure and exuberance. It has the concentration to continue drinking nicely for another two decades or more.

Yellow-gold. Ripe pit fruit and musky lees on the nose, with a smoky mineral quality adding further depth and complexity. Deeply concentrated, chewy apricot and fig flavors are sweetened by floral honey and energized by zesty minerality, but this is ultimately an extremely rich bruiser of a wine. Few late-harvest wines have this sort of richness, but this is emphatically dry.

Yellow-gold. Ripe pit fruit and musky lees on the nose, with a smoky mineral quality adding further depth and complexity. Deeply concentrated, chewy apricot and fig flavors are sweetened by floral honey and energized by zesty minerality, but this is ultimately an extremely rich bruiser of a wine. Few late-harvest wines have this sort of richness, but this is emphatically dry. Really amazing, but what do you do with something like this? Maybe serve it with a half-pound slab of foie gras terrine.