Vivid straw-yellow. Highly perfumed scents of ripe pear, nectarine, lemon rind, honey and pungent flowers, with a smoky mineral overtone building steadily. Offers palate-staining orchard and pit fruit flavors that are complemented by suggestions of toasted nuts and vanilla. Weighty yet distinctly energetic as well, betraying no excess fat. Delivers emphatic mineral thrust and repeating florality on the strikingly long, penetrating finish, which leaves a suggestion of dried pear brandy behind.

Another terrific year for this wine, the 2017 Ermitage Ex Voto Blanc offers up smoky, bacony aromas, which add a mouthwatering note to the wine's citrus and melon flavors. It's full-bodied, maybe not as rich, dense or age-worthy as the 2016, yet with great freshness and incisive length.