Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Love this cuvee. Darker nose than the Les Vergelesses. Tree bark, moss, mid season cherries. Huge minerals. Almost a limestone feeling. Wild apples. Wet earth. Savory. Sweet. Feral and wild. Just stunning. Even some black cherry after some air. Just awesome. Big huge red and black cherry fruit. Lovely electric almost Rieslingesque limestone minerality. Explosive and deep with awesome purity and earthy sweetness. Terrific delineation of flavor and so much material yet so light and delicate even. Only in Burgundy. Super complex and ripe and big tannins suggest even more aging if one desires. — 6 years ago

Conrad Green

9.3

Vegetal and tangy purple fruit. Sour cherry, bramble blackcurrant, salinity iron and some stink. Very feral and lively. Good stuff. — 6 years ago

with Naoko and Larry

Tom Casagrande

9.2

This is juicy and iron-y and feral. So much flavor but in a lithe package. Great balance. Nice length. Great value! — 6 years ago

with Lyle

Emily

9.0

A lovely year for this tasty rosé — 7 years ago

Tom Casagrande

9.3

This bears little resemblance to a Gamay from Beaujolais, starting with the startlingly saturated violet color. The nose is feral, with inky dark berries, laced with venison jerky, poured on to a slab of just-cracked granite. In the mouth, massive dry extract and intensity, but simultaneously vibrant. It’s got soft tannin and acids to spare, so it will age, but really special now. This is actually a fall-weight Bojo. The only thing about this wine that runs according to type is the blocky ‘15 tactile feel, which is not my fave. — 7 years ago

with Lyle

Flavio Menezes

9.2

Monster of a wine, still very young, lots of acidity and tannins to shed. Feral beast, but a great one! — 8 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.1

This reliably delicious Sauvignon Blanc from Washington’s cool Ancient Lakes area is brilliant in 2018, offering penetrating aromas and flavors of lime blossom, grapefruit, lemongrass, anise and beeswax. It’s also remarkably supple for a bone-dry wine with bracing acidity. $22.00 (Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, September 2019) — 6 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Olive, spice, dark berry fruit, lavender, floral, meaty, savory, feral element, what a sick nose, soft yet substantial, these big but delicate tannins, long sappy fruit, loads of mineral, so elegant, so mineral, sweet, salty and mineral. — 6 years ago

Seth Morgen Long

Broker • Arterberry Maresh / Winemaker • Morgen Long

9.6

Feral, deep and generous, this was a wonderful, richly earthen and savory wine decorated with black fruits, meat, olive and brine. Young but open. — 6 years ago

Yianni Stone

9.2

Lovely Cornas. Very similar in quality to the 2000 Clape flagship bottling. Feral blue fruits, bramble and herbs. — 6 years ago

with Haley and Matt

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

9.1

Mineral and wild Loire gamay (with a little persan). You're not going to confuse this with cru Beaujolais as it's learner and more driven and feral. With a light chill and some cured pork products - perfect. — 7 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Day 2 notes as day 1 it was an end of the night open and it needed 24 hours to really show. Nose is all black fruits, tiny bit of horse, granite, meat, earth, herbs, licorice. Feral. Dense gamey olives as well. Complex aromas. Palate has insane freshness and purity. So clean and straight as an arrow with great acids blackberry fruit and complex stoniness on the finish. Compact, long and balanced. Way more upside here. — 7 years ago

Bryce Wiatrak

9.2

Tactile and structure - coconut, salt, lemon oil, grapefruit peel even with some more feral, earthy tones. Super tight, condensed at the moment, but beaming with promise — 7 years ago

Russ W

9.2

Pure and feral and deeeelighful. Geez what a tasty wine. — 6 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.3

Popped, tasted, then back in the fridge it went, and by golly did it shine the next day! Notes mirrored the first time I had this - red fruits, floral, herbal, but now with heaps of briny elements. The brininess and acidity on the palate was so mouth-watering. Kept me going back for more and before I knew it, there was none left. Breaking my own rule for wine (i.e. meant to be shared) has never felt so good. Darn you, Metras!

My only issue with this bottle is that it felt a little more "natty" than the first, which could be a product of the extra air. If you look back at my previous notes, it's already got a pretty feral element, but this had a sort of "beany" savoury finish that I see a lot in natural wines. Still, it doesn't dominate.

NB: According to Wineanorak, this comes from a parcel in Fleurie that was taken out of the cru classification because it was too high up (500m). What?! 😅 — 6 years ago

Ted Corvey

9.3

Could drink this forever. Crazy value, and crazy good. Rustic almost feral style while staying elegant. — 6 years ago

Jay Kline

9.3

The Northern Rhône example in our little, impromptu North/South face-off during Christmas Eve dinner. This is a European bottled version of “Les Journaries” which is labeled there as “La Maestria”. Most of the grapes are sourced from Levet’s holdings in La Landonne. The bottle was opened about two hours prior and probably would have benefitted from being opened two days prior in retrospect. That being said, this was stunning...and positively feral. Underbrush, herbs, brambles, flowers, meat, anise, and cinnamon bark on the nose and on the palate. As striking as this is right now, the best is yet to come and these will deliver even more joy in 10-15 years. These wines are a beautiful little secret. If you must, drink after a rather protracted decant otherwise stash these deep in the cellar. For those wondering, we paired a 2009 Domaine de Beaurenard “Boisrenard” as the Southern Rhône example which, while massively different in style, was stunning in its own right. — 6 years ago

Will Hodges

9.2

Small batch no. 16, “The Raven”. One of their first I’ve had of theirs that has a [mild] acetic profile. As my dad said, “kinda smells like those chips we used to eat.. salt & vinegar!” Super tasty and the quality of the feral fruit shows. Cool, deep fruit comes through on nose. Finish sticks to your gums rather than tongue... tannins. — 7 years ago

Seth Morgen Long

Broker • Arterberry Maresh / Winemaker • Morgen Long

9.5

Furry, feral and full of hairy complexity. — 8 years ago

Nate Miles

9.3

And for the night portion of the evening, Professor Jamet with horror show in a bottle. A dark, bloody, brooding presence that can scare the shit out of a guy if he's not ready for it. Feral elegance. Fantastic. QPR beast. — 8 years ago