Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

Just a stunning bottle. Deep, dark, coiled and incredibly pure, with that unmistakable Hölle combination of fruit intensity, mineral darkness and quiet inner violence. Black cherry, sour cherry, wild raspberry, crushed rock, violets, smoke, earth, iron and spice, but the real story is the texture. This has that dense 2022 core, but it never feels heavy or overblown. It is compact, serious, layered and beautifully proportioned, with tremendous midpalate depth and a finish that keeps expanding instead of simply fading.

What I love here is the tension between ripeness and restraint. There is real fruit, real concentration, real flesh, but the wine is controlled by structure, minerality and site. The tannins are fine but present, the acidity gives it lift, and the whole thing feels like it is moving inward and outward at the same time. Young, obviously, but already compelling. Needs air and will be better with years, but this is a major 2022 German Pinot Noir. Serious, dark, elegant, and absolutely loaded with future.

Day three. Still completely alive, not a thing lost. Creamy, juicy, ripe, sweet-fruited, with the tannins finally calmed down and perfectly integrated. The whole wine has snapped into harmony. I knew it had the guts to go the distance. Fantastic. 9.7 on days 1/2 and 9.8 on day 3. — 5 days ago

Rachel Black

9.0

Carbonic maceration? Fun but not really worth $40 — 3 years ago

David Kline

9.1

All celebration in an ebulliently uplifting, white, cloud wall. Huge fruit cup of cherry and peach, pear and strawberry bounces from the glass, wafting outward. A funkiness evokes ripest dragonfruit, and yes, guava. Sourest lemon-orange combo pushes forward in a citrus hammer, with tart tartaric energy evoking lime and hybrid citrus fruits at various stages of ripeness. Tangy and sour while still maintaining the vestiges of a skin-and-all kumquat sweetness. Finishes dry, and acid-refreshing. — 7 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.2

N: chenin

P: delicious. Good fruit. Balanced. — 8 months ago

Brandon Boesch

9.2

Very good. Strawberry and watermelon jolly rancher for days. Light bodied. Some stone. Not complex, but not the point. Crushable. Glouglou — 2 years ago

Stephanie Cain

8.9

Pepper and limestone on the nose. Light and zesty. Low tannin, high acid. — 4 years ago

David Kline

9.5

Aromas of gingerbread, apricot, cut red apples, lemon pith, tea biscuit and caramel. What a smooth and amazingly deft whiskey on entry; lifting off the palate like a smoldering Phoenix immolating in slow-mo as it becomes engulfed in various smokes layering endlessly outward in its bourgeoning expansion. It evokes congnac’s finest offerings, showing mixed apple and baked orchard fruits and complex spice and pastries, but cask choices leave no doubt to its whiskey-ness. All the nobility, but with the sinewy strength of a seasoned warrior. #scotch #whiskey #whisky #macallan #No4 #HighlandWhiskey — 8 years ago

with Courtney

Eric Urbani

9.0

An excellent Paso Valdiguié, unfined, unfiltered, using native yeast and 100% carbonic maceration. 492 cases produced. Best served slightly chilled. 12% ABV. — 8 months ago

Turd Ferguson

8.9

Definitely feels like a slightly challenging, cooler year. Less outward fruit and complexity, but still good extraction for a blowfish from Australia. Moric is a master. — 2 years ago

Lee Lightfoot

9.2

Tremendous acidity, bright fresh mineral lemon. Only 50 cases and from a vineyard 4 miles from the ocean in Avila beach — 5 years ago