Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Outrageous, utterly distinctive nose of hazelnut, iodine, quarry salt, limestone, butterscotch and a touch of sweet oak. The palate is juicy, concentrated and incisive, with terrific acidity, perfect balance and explosive fruit. So precise, so complex, with a salty, echoing finish that keeps building. There is no other Chardonnay like this. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Tight and a touch cold at first, then it really opens. Lemon oil, sea air, salinity, sweet oak, wet earth and that unmistakable white Burgundy mineral perfume. Palate is generous in the 2023 way, round and concentrated, but with excellent acidity, purity and grip. The oak sweetens and integrates as the terroir takes over. Long sea-spray mineral finish that keeps building. Delicious, serious, site-driven Saint-Aubin. — 4 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Green capsule. Exactly what I wanted. Gorgeous Mosel nose of apple pie, apple phyllo dough, slate and pure Graacher lift. Palate is juicy and concentrated, with outrageous acidity and the sweetness acting textural, just a kiss, not sugary. Terrific grip, purity and mineral drive, with a lingering, juicy, dissipating finish. 2022 Mosel is in a great place.

Day two is stunning. Classic Mosel transport: rain on slate, lime Smarties, lime Sweet Tarts, cotton candy and pure vineyard air. Palate is explosive and perfectly pure, with rainwater clarity, sweet lime, Meyer lemon, huge dry extract and outrageous sapidity. Long, clinging, slate-soaked finish. Green capsule is Molitor’s sweet spot. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.2

The nose is pleasant rather than transporting, with dosage, creaminess, lime and apricot, while the palate carries the wine: good mousse, nice concentration, peachy-apricot fruit, purity, balance and a clean finish. It’s not trying to rearrange the ceiling tiles. It’s a very well-made, easy summer Sekt that disappears happily. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

Astonishing right out of the bottle. Gorgeous Northern Rhône nose of green and black olive, granite, blackberry, red currant and wild Syrah perfume. But the story is the tannins. My God. The refinement here is insane: molten, elegant, seamless tannins that melt across the palate with ridiculous class. So drinkable, so pure, so balanced, with deep fruit, granitic freshness and a long, graceful finish. This is my favorite Saint-Joseph, and it is drinking beautifully already. — 3 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Very cool-toned Pfalz Pinot from a great site. Nose of cranberry bog, mid-season cherry, sour cherry, raspberry and beautiful minerality. Palate is all tangy cranberry, sour cherry, freshness, structure and acidity, with velvety tannins that still have bite. Almost Swiss in its restraint. Closed down a bit after air, but serious, pure and site-driven. — 7 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Drinking right at its apex. Beautiful mature nose: sweet Pinot fruit, sous-bois, a little mushroom, old oak fully absorbed, and very expressive minerals. But the palate is the story. Velvety, sweet-fruited, seamless and polished, with gorgeous tannin quality and all the oak now integrated into the wine instead of sitting on top of it. Mature, elegant, luxurious, but still alive and precise. A rare 11-year-old Franconian Pinot caught perfectly. — 8 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

A beast, and still shockingly young. Barely budged in a year and a half, maybe 5% evolution. Nose is unbelievable: crystalline blackberry, blueberry, crushed granite, then more granite, then more blackberry. Palate still has that grapey, youthful, barrel-sample intensity, with massive concentrated fruit and granite oozing through everything. Tannins are significant at first, then smooth out into something velvety, sweet and seamless. Terrific purity, absurd material, huge structure and a long blackberry-granite finish. This is insane Cornas, but it needs forever. — 3 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.7

60% Pinot Noir, 40% Frühburgunder, and the Frühburgunder is roaring tonight. Bottle 255/300. Soppy macerated mid-to-late-season cherries, violets, wild mint, wet moss, red sandstone spice and deep Centgrafenberg mineral perfume. Palate is ridiculous: silky, creamy, ripe, rich, seductive and hedonistic, but still fresh and perfectly balanced. Sweet fruit melts across the mouth, then the finish goes architectural, long, layered and delineated. A German Pinot cathedral. — 5 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Killer Rheingau GG. Citrus oil, peach stone, rainwater purity and deep mountain minerality, like it was carved from the side of a mountain. Palate has density with elegance, fleshy but so fresh, with almost tannic structure and gorgeous balance. As it warms, the texture turns glossy and icing-like without losing precision. Young, serious, complex, twenty-year wine. — 7 days ago