Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.7

Absolutely gorgeous nose of cedar, wood shavings, pine, cigar, cassis and florals, with classic Margaux perfume and extraordinary depth. The palate has really smoothed out since my last bottle, with creamy cassis, unbelievable juiciness, tiny-berry concentration, sweet velvety pointillist tannins and beautiful minerality carrying an enormously long finish. Still structured and angular enough to age, but now far more integrated. One of the great Bordeauxs. — 11 hours ago

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. — 4 days 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. — 6 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Outrageously expressive nose of tangerine, blood orange, tangelo, ripe grapefruit, apricot and white peach, with hints of petrol, vulcanized rubber and swimming-pool chlorine adding complexity. The palate is spectacularly pure and perfectly balanced, with vivid citrus fruit, enormous acidity, tremendous dry extract and a building mineral blizzard on the finish. Powerful and intensely fruited, yet the defining quality is its extraordinary finesse. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Enormous mineral density and concentration, with remarkable power and sheer material, yet everything is driven by Chablis-like razors, sea salt and electric salinity. Fresh sea air and mineral dominate the aromatics, while the palate is dense, energetic and intensely sapid, with a beautiful mineral sweetness running through the finish. Powerful without heaviness, unbelievably pure and completely distinctive. — 3 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. — 6 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. — 9 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Gorgeous, deeply saturated nose of smoky, leathery, gamey Gamay fruit, with red and black cherry, cranberry, sour cherry, desiccated leaves, sous-bois and emerging florals. The palate is lush, silky, generous and incredibly sappy, with explosive tiny-berry red fruit, ripe tannins and terrific granitic freshness. The finish is remarkable, with the pure, high-toned fruit echoing endlessly. Teasing 9.6 as it continues to open. — 2 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. — 5 days 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. — 9 days ago