Lyle Fass 
Pierre Brisset
Les Grands Charrons Meursault White Blend 2022
Huge, expansive aromatics with crystalline purity and that beautiful Meursault funk underneath, giving the wine both lift and real personality. The palate is extraordinarily elegant, pure and seamless, with superb concentration, tremendous length and that unmistakable Brisset white Burgundy texture, dense and tactile without ever feeling heavy. Beautifully proportioned, refined and complete, with the kind of effortless balance that makes the wine feel much more serious than its village designation. — 9 days ago
Martin Müllen
Alte Reben Kröver Paradies Riesling Spätlese** Trocken 2023
Gorgeous, wildly aromatic Paradies, with huge slate-pebble minerality, lemon and lime, white peach, apricot, wild mint and citrus skin, along with this wonderfully feral, almost underarm-like savory funk that makes the nose so distinctive. The palate is luscious, crystalline and incredibly pure, with beautiful citrus fruit, excellent concentration and exactly enough acidity to keep everything fresh without dominating the wine. With air it becomes rounder, juicier and more harmonious, very much the charm of 2023, which for me is about as normie and immediately pleasurable as a Müllen vintage gets. Long, balanced and beautiful, with terrific purity and no hard edges. 9.6 for now, and I’ll see what day two brings.
— 10 days ago
Willi Schaefer
#10 Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Riesling 2019
Terrific showing and a beautiful final bottle. The nose is just beginning to move into secondary territory, with apple pie, ripe orchard fruit and that unmistakable Domprobst depth, while still feeling fresh and vivid. The palate has developed gorgeous mid-palate opulence, rich and generous, but the acidity is absolutely ripping and perfectly integrated into the fruit, giving the wine tremendous energy and balance. Schaefer always seems to age a little faster to me than some other Mosel producers, and this is now in a wonderful place, youthful enough to have plenty of life but already showing real maturity and harmony. Beautiful wine. — 5 days ago
Winzerhof Thörle
Hölle Spätburgunder 2023
Completely glorious showing. Wide open from the start, with huge, kinked-out aromatics and beautiful, forward fruit that manages to be opulent without losing any precision. The palate is seamless, juicy and perfectly balanced, with terrific concentration, gorgeous texture and that almost absurd Thörle sense of engineering where everything is exactly where it should be. Not a hair out of place. Just a stunning, complete bottle of Spätburgunder and ridiculously beautiful to drink.
Day two confirms the 2023 Thörle Hölle Spätburgunder at 9.7, with the nose even more outrageous, easily 9.8 to 9.9, exploding with leather, spice cake, birthday-cake confectionery and this wildly perfumed, almost decadent aromatic intensity. The palate is juicy, deeply textured and beautifully pure, with velvety but still significant tannins, tangy 2023 fruit and tremendous concentration without losing elegance.
The inner-mouth aromatics are unbelievable now, and the wine has that wonderful 2023 combination of generosity and precision that you get in both Burgundy and Germany. Still obviously very young, but already extraordinarily complete. Tremendous wine, and 9.7 still feels exactly right. — 10 days ago
Marie Demets
Tradition Blanc de Noir Champagne Pinot Noir
Beautifully Pinot-driven Blanc de Noirs, with generous red-fruit character, lovely freshness and a very fine, elegant mousse. Pure, balanced and completely effortless to drink. No formal notes, just another very good showing from Marie Demets. — 5 days ago
Markus Molitor
Graacher Himmelreich Auslese* Riesling 2022
Gorgeous, deeply expressive green-cap Molitor. The nose is a complete scene in nature, with remarkable wild mint, tree bark, melon, green apple, ripe peach, slate, a touch of vulcanized rubber and that beautiful rainwater quality running through everything. The palate is massively concentrated and dense, but the acidity is incredible, giving the wine tremendous lift and definition. Juicy peach, apricot and green apple carry through a huge, dry-ish finish, with superb purity, complexity and length. Powerful without heaviness, vivid, balanced and completely compelling. — 8 days ago
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Volnay Santenots-du-Milieu 1er Cru Pinot Noir 2006
Beautifully mature-looking but still not fully mature Volnay Santenots, with an expansive, confectionery nose of mid-season cherry, a faint touch of caramelized cherry, desiccated leaves, citrus peel, moss and beautifully precise wet earth. The aromatics are the star, already operating closer to 9.6 or 9.7, with terrific definition and that muscular Santenots character beginning to soften into something more layered and elegant. The palate is concentrated and dense, with excellent inner-mouth aromas, layered tannins and very good freshness, though the tannins became a little more assertive with air before settling back down. Fantastic wine at twenty years old, but still carrying enough structure that I would not call it fully mature. — 10 days ago
Domaine du Tunnel (Stéphane Robert)
Pur Noir Cornas Syrah 2017
The nose is intensely ripe and liqueur-like, with kirsch, cassis, blackberry and other dark fruit, along with spice, potpourri, leather, graphite and camphor. There is a polished, expensive-smelling quality to it, but everything feels blurred and overworked rather than focused. The palate is concentrated, juicy and very long, with big tannins and plenty of material, but the alcohol sticks out everywhere and the ripeness keeps pushing the wine out of balance. It tastes expensive, but at the moment that feels more like a facade than substance. I’m absolutely willing to let this improve with air, especially given the wine’s reputation, but right now 8.8 is where it is.
With more air, this has improved from 8.8 to 9.1. The nose is still remarkably blasé and unfocused, basically generic red-wine aromatics without much identity or finesse. The palate has come together considerably, with less obvious heat, better balance, good freshness, serious length and massive tiny-berry fruit concentration. Still highly extracted and overdone, with enormous material but essentially zero finesse, yet at least now it feels like a coherent wine rather than a complete mess. — 14 days ago
Lyle Fass
Founder Fass Selections
Gorgeous young Boca with a spectacular nose of deep mid-to-late-season cherry, fresh roses, crushed dried roses, tar, loamy earth and a faint volcanic edge. The palate is pure, balanced and beautifully elegant, with powdery tannins, excellent freshness and increasingly intense tiny-berry cherry fruit. The structure is starting to emerge with air, but the fruit remains vivid and incredibly precise. The finish is extraordinarily long, mouthwatering and increasingly confectionery, with beautiful pink-cherry tones lingering through the end. Stunning wine already, and I’ll keep tracking it as it unfurls. — 2 days ago