Daniel Ciolek

9.1

Consistency is good - see my notes from earlier vintage. Approachable on opening. Floral on the nose. Dense spicy raspberry and a touch of leather on the palate. Starting to show some mineral on a moderate long finish. Tannins show at the finish. Perhaps the vines are getting more mature as it seems as if the profile is moving towards an old world style that may need cellaring in future vintages. — 2 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.7

Tasted blind. Yellow gold in the glass, with similar notes as the 96 BBM and Batard next to it. Massive acidity. More floral than the other two. Very rich. This went neck and neck all night with the Batard as the best of the three. At first I liked the Chevy more but the Batard was right there too. 97+ — 3 years ago

Daniel Ciolek

9.2

Solid vintage year for the reserve cab. It’s one of the better balanced mid-Atlantic cabs you can find. It has the density and complexity of a top tier cab you’d expect from.more acclaimed Napa vineyards - but without the the ‘in your face’ tannins. Nice job Penn’s Woods! — 3 years ago

Jason

9.0

A beautifully balanced wine, with a lingering after-taste that makes you really enjoy a glass of this wine. — 4 years ago

with Melodie

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Superbly complex nose. Mid season cherry, smoke, herbs, deep fruit, tea, spice, perfect sour cherry as well, so refined and gorgeous. Palate is elegant and refined with intense sour cherry fruit and substantial structure and tannins. Really fine. Such terrific tiny berry fruit intensity. Another wine that needs 2-6 hours to open up. These are so up my alley. After some air gorgeous florals. The most structured of them all. Like a Corton. — 5 years ago

Becky Carlson

9.4

Tasted of peaches at first. Delightful! — 6 years ago

Douglas Braun

8.9

Underbrush herbs leather cherry fruit great balance nice had sparklers from Tasmania one of the few still wines -really pretty wine — 7 years ago

Dan

9.3

Smells rich and spicy, bright cherry, earth, red spices. Tastes almost like an old Bordeaux, still bright cherry. Tons of complex notes, roasted nuts, tobacco, red spice, woods, slight smarties and cedar(?). Really interesting and not too old. — 2 years ago

John Pavlovich

9.6

A wonderful bottle of wine, that you usually don’t drink on a lovely warm July evening. But what the heck, why not. We don’t get many evenings like this in our neck of woods. From the first whiff you know it’s a serious wine. In its prime, deep colour, slight bricking at edges, dense and deep, earthy, definitely not a wimpy wine. A long and persistent aftertaste confirms that this is a serious wine. And highly enjoyable one, too bad I don’t have more. — 3 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.6

From a great looking bottle with a fill almost into the neck. Double decanted and left in the bottle for 5 hours before attacking it. Amber color. Good weight and haunting nose. Notes of old cedar, mocha, plums, cola, dark fruit, molasses and some sweet red cherry. Early on it’s all about the amazing nose. But with time the wine gains weight and you have a gorgeous old St Estephe in front of you. Still giving its all, and although the fruit is somewhat faded, this has complexity and structure that still drives the experience. And that nose is simply stunning. Great showing. — 3 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

It is not close. This is the best domestic Cabernet Franc I’ve ever had. Insane nose. It smells like if Foillard made a Cabernet Franc. Sick florals. Like OMG florals. Gorgeous berry fruit and lovey hint of wonderful sweet herbs. It is such a deep and enveloping aroma that it is almost too intoxicating. Just a total wow nose. Truly amazing. You can sniff so so hard and more and more aroma arrives in your nose. Just stunning. 9.6 nose. Really stunned. Confectionary as well. Palate is so refined, so elegant and so juicy. Just extraordinary. It’s medium bodied and insanely fresh, with such refined, ripe and substantial tannins. So pure. What balance. 40% whole cluster. Loess soils. What a long incredible finish and the fruit just sticks to the back of the palate. A truly brilliant wine. — 5 years ago

Brett Rogosin

9.0

Golden copper. Slight notes of petrol, over ripe dried apricots, marzipan, golden raisins, crisp honey crisp apple, honey. Ooh...sugared caramel candies honey apple, apricots and golden raisins. It’s yummy. — 5 years ago

Will Hullinger

9.1

Notes of Plum, tart cherries and medium tannin. Damp earth, walking through the woods at a downpour is the nose when you take a deep inhale. Enjoyed in 2018, takes a bit to open up. — 7 years ago

Michael Mcdermott

9.6

Opened 1998when power went back on in Sonoma! Wow this was solid. Well kept with mid neck ullage, dark plum no brick colors of oxidation. As you would expect a earthy woody old Bordeaux nose, soft tannins but still strong 19 years on. After an hour open and decanted this was wonderful. — 8 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Super mineral nose with discreet framing oak. Lemon flesh. Some rainer cherries. Saline and iodine. Subtle yet focused and incredibly complex nose. Such nice earth and mineral tones. Smells like Burgundy of yesteryear. Palate is so lean, salty and concentrated with a lingering hint of complex sweetness from the wood on the incredibly persistent finish. So juicy and leaning on the palate and just laser focused. So long. This has much more to give and has closed down a bit since I tasted it last. But a stunner. I’ll be back as it airs.

After 4 hours this is a wonder and has opened beautifully. Clear barely ripe granny smith apple, stunning mineral breadth and some white flowers. Palate is so juicy and saline. Luscious. It’s loosened up quite a bit. Long, structured finish. Super juicy. Fantastic. — 3 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Been a while delectable family. Flu then covid and only 3 wines in that period. Well I am back and smell and taste are as they were before all of this. Nose has peach skin, some ripe peach flesh but not too ripe, confectionary aromas. Loads of wet stones and pulverized shale. Super aromatic. Like a cross between Pfalz/Alsace. Palate is lean and precise. Really clean, balanced and so pure. Fiercely mineral. Lovely peach flesh, skin and sap on the very long finish. Really juicy and engaging. Delicious! — 3 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

Lemon Yellow in colour. Muted nose initially giving a mineral and lemon note. Very lemony and citrus generally on the palate, eventually a stony, river pebble like minerality. Bracing acidity which will see this go on for a few more years. The following day a marine shell note. Preferred the 2013 Deep Woods Reserve Chardonnay for a quarter of the price. — 4 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.3

The good whites of Burgundy, aka crack cocaine, are what they are because of great blending - in this case, Pierre Benoist of DRC.

This is special not just for the florals, the woods, the citrus, the spice, but for these things together.

Lemon chamomile and a cedar lined drawer. Vibrant and young with a sturdy back and all the confidence in the world. — 4 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

Takes its name from the free-spirited gentleman named Bruscone who lived in the woods of the Barbi Estate. Enticing Ruby with sweet red berry aromas and earthy notes. On the palate cherry, licorice and sweet plum showing nicely. Fine tannins, well balanced on lingering finish ending with earthy herb tones. Needs decanting or cellar aging. Very nice! — 6 years ago

John Howard

Harvest production at Hirsch and Cobb Wineries

9.1

On the finessed and lighter side of Shiraz. Delicious. — 7 years ago