Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

At dinner at Le Cabotte. Entering a gorgeous drinking window. The nose is classic Chinon, loaded with red currant, crushed herbs, mineral dust, and hints of cassis. Beautiful Cabernet Franc herbaceousness, not green or vegetal, but alive. Red currants, crushed herbs, a little tobacco leaf, iron, stone, and that unmistakable Loire freshness. The fruit has enough generosity from the vintage to give a subtle fleshiness underneath the structure. The palate is all tension and energy. Incredible freshness, mouthwatering acidity, and a long mineral spine carry the wine across the palate. Unlike Baudry’s larger, more powerful bottlings, this is about movement. The fruit feels suspended in the acidity, and every sip seems to pull the next sip forward. After forty minutes of air, the wine became even more expressive. The red currant and herbaceous notes moved to the forefront, joined by gorgeous minerality and tremendous freshness. It is not thick or heavy like Cabernet Sauvignon, nor does it possess the density of Baudry’s biggest cuvées. Instead, it is all acid, tension, energy, and precision. Juicy, vibrant, and effortlessly drinkable, with the kind of electric persistence that makes great Cabernet Franc impossible to put down. — 3 months ago

Brian Hearty

9.2

2008. Pretty sure this will be the last wine we pull off the shelf tonight (🤷‍♂️). I think we drank them in the right order so that the current wine wasn’t overshadowed by the previous one. — 3 years ago

Neil Valenzuela

9.0

Coors light by the yard. Getcha’ Pull! — 4 years ago

Jay Kline

9.1

In the glass, a touch hazy. On the nose, remarkable bright red fruits and tar. The bouquet is deeply layered but not really easy to pull everything out in the context of the meal. On the palate, crunchy red fruits and a touch frizzante that dissipates. After some air, roses join the massive aromatic theater of this wine. Utterly fresh and with quite substantial structure! A lovely Freisa and likely the best I’ve ever encountered. Bravissimo! — 5 years ago

Mike Sanderson

9.8

Excellent! Dark and fruity. Drank with chocolate. Would go well with any rich food, I think. — 6 years ago

Matt Schicker

10

2010 vintage with plum, black currants, green olive, eucalyptus mint black cherry. Delicious!! — 6 years ago

Erin Murphy

9.1

Really enjoyed! A little interesting and earthy very good with chicken. — 3 months ago

Angie Volino

9.2

2022. Enjoyed with friends. Will def purchase again. — 2 years ago

Jan A

9.4

When the wife orders you to pull a nice chardonnay from the cellar, you obey immediately.

This was an exciting bottle with citrus on the nose. Orange peel, pear, roasted bread and citrus on the palate. Good concentration and acidity. Seamless integration. Still more to come with additional cellar time. — 2 years ago

Raun Kupiec

8.9

Very nice, but fairly typical cold weather Pinot noir. Could easily be Oregon, could be Swiss. Really quite nice. — 4 years ago

Willem Booij

9.1

This bottle kicks of with scents of Kalamata olives, cigar box, dark butter chocolate, cherry and the great taste of fall forest leaf, with also some After Eights 😋 The wine is full, but soft and smooth. And there’s a sweet, ripe, black cherrie also. The wine is perfect for me now but fully matured. I say: empty you’re cellar, pull the cork! Ps. I love the label, not as classic as l’ Evangile but close
— 5 years ago

Cheylsea Lauren

9.2

Apricot, peach and saline. A but of funk but easy drinking. — 6 years ago

with Spencer

David L

9.5

09’Blankiet Paradise Hills Vineyard
Mostly Cabernet. Theses last 8 vintage or so always have a certain elegance to them. Which I find very appealing. The 2009 is very close to a PNP. Just pull the cork an hour prior to serving. A few prime years left.

Bright deep red color still. Black raspberry, black plum skins, licorice, violets. Seamless finish to this wine. One of my least favorite vintages of the decade. This truly does shine. — 6 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

1982 vintage. Last tasted 6.1.24 (9.4) and nearly 9 years ago (9.0). Courtesy of Monsieur @Bill Bender. Sweet fill. Opened with a Durand. Cork 95% saturated. A little reticent in the early going and decanted a third of the bottle to see if that would pull the juice out of a sullen funk. It did, so the remainder got decanted whilst throwing much less sed than expected. Medium body still. Slightly brickish and plenty fleshy with well-integrated complexity. Very pleasant and lingering finish. A great bottle with more than could reasonably be expected at this juncture. Thank you, Bill! 4.24.26. — 4 months ago

with Bill

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

I tasted this at cork pull and it looked & tasted a bit brickish. Waited to decant but it still needed a hour in the decanter. 97 a great Napa vintage. Well stored bottle bought from auction.

The fruits are lush, velvety & ruby; blackberries, black plum, plum pudding, black raspberries, dark cherries, strawberries & blueberry hues. Dark chocolate, mocha, salted caramel, malt balls on the long decant, black licorice, there is a touch of v/a-bandaid but it’s not spoiling and dissipates some in time, dusty to slightly moist top soil, olive tapenade, herbaceous notes, soft, dark spice, half used, dry tobacco w/ ash, sandalwood, moist, grey volcanic clay, limestone, dry crushed rocks, notes of black pepper, candied, liquid, fresh & mostly withering, dark, red, purple flowers, very round acidity and a very well balanced, tensioned, nicely structured and a smartly polished, round finish that lasts two-minutes.

Second wine to pair with/ Allen Brothers Cover Ribs. — 2 years ago

Sarah Milsow-Guenther

9.2

Scored a couple of these bad boys from Full Pull for $20. Money spent wisely. Tasting like an old Frenchie, time to drink since it’s starting to lose some flavor. Still a really nice representation of how well WA wine can age. — 4 years ago

Joe Flo

9.3

Excellent Albariño as good or better than any Spanish Albariño. — 5 years ago

Ryan Rankin

9.0

Beautiful summer Chardonnay. Quite floral with lots of green apple and lime that blends into a vanilla caramel — 5 years ago

James Forsyth

9.4

Leather, dark chocolate. Racy and voluptuous. Violet notes. All giving. Pure pleasure. — 6 years ago

Matt Lichtenberg

9.4

Now we’re talking. First opened the ‘12 for my quarantine birthday wine dinner with Maine lobster and Maryland crab. Sadly it was in premox hell. The ‘10 on the other hand was open for business. In its prime drinking window. Minerals, oyster shells, a touch of wood, incredibly balanced and in its prime. Had the ‘14 Mouchere in the dugout but thankfully didn’t need to pull it. Is there a better duet than east coast shellfish and Burgundy???? A sequestered birthday dinner I will never forget.... — 6 years ago