Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Gorgeous, high-toned nose of raspberry, red licorice, sweet mid-to-late-season cherry, sour cherry, earth and mineral, with tremendous depth and clarity. The palate is concentrated, juicy and beautifully delineated, with that full chord progression of red fruit, huge acidity, remarkable purity and enormous length. Decadent but restrained, dense but refined, with tremendous energy and everything perfectly in place. — 10 hours ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.2

A huge disappointment given the pedigree and price. The fruit is unquestionably beautiful, with extreme concentration, density and flashes of real finesse, but the wine feels pushed too far. The 13.5% alcohol never fully integrates, and more importantly, there is almost no sense of place. It could come from anywhere. For a high-end boutique bottling costing roughly twice as much as the regular Philippe Naddef Champeaux, that is a serious problem. There is impressive raw material here, so judgment is reserved until day two, but for now this is powerful, polished and anonymous rather than compelling Burgundy. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

Started broad, warm and slightly all elbows, then within minutes transformed completely. The palate became astonishingly elegant, serene and weightless, with enormous concentration, tiny-berry tropical fruit intensity, tremendous granite minerality and extraordinary texture. The warmth never fully disappears, but it integrates into the wine and somehow becomes part of its aristocratic character. Juicy, feral, mineral and profoundly refined, with the kind of effortless authority I associate with truly great wine. One of the most interesting whites I have had all year.

Even better integrated on day two, with the 14.5% alcohol completely disappearing into the wine and classic Marsanne gras, vanilla extract, enormous density, purity, sapidity and Grand Cru authority. Unbelievable finish and still the wine of the night. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Gorgeous nose of wet earth, sweet lime zest and deep seashell complexity, with the warmth of 2023 giving the wine real generosity. The palate is beautifully dense and pure, with a near-perfect tension between gras and stimulating acidity, tremendous energy, freshness and balance. Côte de Beaune richness with pristine Chablis transparency. — a day ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Gorgeous, refined nose of cherry flower, glazed cherry, spice, earth and subtle florals, all delivered with tremendous silkiness and restraint. The palate is more closed than my last bottle, but still beautifully elegant and nimble, with sweet and sour mid-season cherry fruit, very high acidity, laser-like precision, excellent delineation and a long, energetic finish. Clearly beginning to shut down, but the material is all there.

Much more open this morning, with the nose largely holding its beautiful cherry-flower, spice and earth profile but feeling a touch more integrated. The palate has transformed, now decadent, silky, sweet and intensely juicy, with gorgeous texture, excellent freshness and a much more complete sense of harmony. 9.5 to 9.6 overnight. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

Stunningly lifted and floral, with an extraordinary waft of minerality that seems to float out of the glass. The palate combines enormous acidity, freshness, density and concentration with just enough flesh and richness to give the fruit shape, yet somehow remains almost weightless. There is a little of 2021’s precision and electricity and a little of 2017’s generosity, but the defining quality is exactitude. Mineral, floral, intensely concentrated and incredibly pure, with remarkable balance and finesse. Truly stunning. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Absolutely stunning nose, already operating around 9.8, with wet earth, mud, decaying and desiccated leaves, damson cherry, chestnut, massive spice and florals everywhere. Haunting, complex and unmistakably mature Nebbiolo. The palate is still much younger than the nose, with beautiful purity and freshness, dark sweet Nebbiolo fruit, classical delineation, enormous concentration and dense cheek-coating tannins. The finish is ridiculously long and persistent, suggesting there is still much more to come with air. 9.6 for now. — 7 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Beautifully spicy, floral and complex on the nose, with sour cherry and terrific aromatic breadth. Much better on day two, as the palate has become silkier and sweeter, with tremendous juiciness, energy and gorgeous texture; still very high acid, but now far more integrated and balanced, with real finesse and length.

9.5 to 9.6 overnight, and really this just needed 24-plus hours to fully open. The palate is now decadent, supple, sweet and intensely sappy, with remarkable richness, gorgeous texture and unbelievably ripe, high-quality tannins; deep spice and florals complete a wine that is Grand Cru in everything but name. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

The un-Gewürztraminer. Beautifully floral, elegant and remarkably subtle, with none of the heaviness or aromatic excess the variety can so easily fall into. At just 12.4% alcohol, the wine has lovely freshness and poise, yet there is more body and structure here than usual. Serious, restrained and quietly expressive, with excellent balance and finesse. Gorgeous wine.

Much finer on day two, with more varietal expression but still dry, detailed and restrained, plus lanolin, superb acidity, rainwater purity and a beautifully bitter lychee finish. Almost 9.5. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.0

Attractive at first, with peach, melon and an unusual Scheurebe-like exotic quality, but increasingly broad and blousey with air. Slightly off-dry in impression, simple through the mid-palate and lacking the mineral precision, tension and complexity I look for in Piesporter Riesling. Started better than it finished. — 5 days ago