Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

The latest version of the great Probstey “GG” Riesling. Amazing nose that shows the warmness of the site along with the intensity of the minerality. Gorgeous citrus, so detailed, almost citrus jelly, but dry, lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, gorgeous deep minerality backing it all up. Floral as well as it aerates. Palate is unreal. Deep and elegant with lovely ample mouthfeel and such great complexity already. Such balance and elegance. This is the most elegant Probstey ever. Wow. What a huge leap for this bottling. Concentrated and deep. Juicy and with young taut fruit but such intense energy and freshness. So linear and has great power and concentration but finishes with such brilliant finesse. This is top stuff. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

As expected this is more mineral driven and tighter than the Probstey. Cooler site and mostly limestone. Nose is clean and airy with lovely minerality. It’s a bit aromatically closed but it has a hidden depth just hinted at. Palate shows the majestic power and minerality of the great Hölle. Really dense and opulent with amazing texture and just electric acid and minerality. Energy that could propel rocket fusion. Wow. Incredible balance and this is a dense packed Riesling that can age 15+ years easy. Dense and concentrated and so young. But so awesome. Wait 5 years. — 2 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Gorgeous wine and the most accessible young GG out there. Stunning in 18. Nose of lime blossom, white flowers, apricot, citrus, tangerine, huge mineral backbone, haunting and layered. Juicy and complex a wonderful tactile sweetness and then salty with huge acids and freshness. Balanced and so so pure. Explosive and juicy with insane energy and that tactile tensile sweetness. This is so good. I think Kai has perfected his style in 2018. Amazing palate presence and delicacy. — 11 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Wow. Battenfeld 18 is incredible. Stunning levels of complexity and flavor intensity like nothing else. Amazing depth here that is a another level. 18 seems like a breakthrough vintage here. This is a higher level than 15/16/17 which was the previous triad of breakthroughs. Honey, creamy, tangelo, opulent, herbal, mineral, enticing swimming pool, bitter caramel, nougat, vanilla, just insane. Lime as well. Palate is immaculate. Opulent and super chiseled. The juxtaposition on these Battenfeld 18’s is remarkable. Juicy and complex with just amazing depth, energy and precision. So long, ethereal and opulent and juicy. It sizzles on the finish. Amazing mouthfeel and honeyed yet so dry and fresh. This is a beast but an elegant and flavorful beast. Young but not inaccessible but will get better over 10-12 years. — 16 days ago

Matthew Cohen

9.7

Ok. Not sure when I’m going to even taste this the nose is so good. Crunchy confectionary sugar. Perfect apricots. 10/10 intensity. Wow.

Palate is even better. You need to close your eyes to avoid sensory overload. Perfect peaches on a summers day. Dense but notthick. So bright. Not at all cloying.

This has the density and flavor profile of great auslese but it tastes more like wine if that makes any sense. Not thick. Not cloying. Not unctuous. It just is what it is and that is is amazing.

The flavor profile is what you’d expect. But what makes this special is it’s so clean and precise.

The finish is even better than a perfect peach. A perfect peach is too acidic and tooth scraping. This is just a hair shy of that level of acidity. You get that perfect fruit acid balance without the tooth pain.

A masterpiece. — 3 days ago

with Lyle

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.2

I love this Ortsweine. Almost a GG like nose. Complex stones, citrus and stunning fresh air minerality. Gorgeous confectionary aromas. Palate is huge Meyer lemon and lime with insane pithiness and juiciness and just terrific minerality, precision and depth. Awesome texture and crunch and complex minerals on the finish. — 8 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

This is a new Kabinett bottling. As are the previous two Schätzel wines. He has rejiggered his lineup in 2018 at the Ortsweine/Gutsweine level. Anyway, the nose is fantastic for one of the leading classical Kabi guys in all of Germany. I love this style. Nose is fragrant with herbs, white peach, sweet ripe lime, some leesy quality, so inviting, just insane. Has a faint sweet tart lemon drop quality. Palate is just incredible. Balanced and so juicy with lime/citrus/apricot fruit laced with intense minerality. So beautiful, balanced and just gorgeous. High acidity, and also a deep structure suggest aging for 10-15 years. The wine finished exactly like the best Fun Dip ever. With the white scoop bar crunched for effect. — 14 days ago

Severn Goodwin

9.1

Nose has under-ripe, yellow stone fruits, washed lime, cut yellow apple, dry limestone slab and very minor petrol note.

Palate has sweet yellow apple, lime flesh, firm peach flesh, pineapple core with a sweet and lightly saline finish that is quite long. Very enjoyable, young wine.

I concur with Vinous (DS), likely one of the better or best versions of this bottle I've tasted.

Decanted ~90m. I must address the amount of gas (CO2) in this bottle, just amazing, almost thought this was a sekt when it was going into the decanter, even on on the double decant at 90m there was still some bubbles! — 11 hours ago

Aaron Tan

9.3

Sheer electricity! I love auslese's like this - delicate botrytis, searing acidity, pure transparent fruit, rich (as it should be) yet incredibly lithe. This hardly had a chance to develop with air during the night. Destroyed by the table, especially when the lotus seed paste pancakes came out. Yum! — 7 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.7

Just a beautiful wine that is vibrating on its own plane. Stunningly floral nose. So delicate and layered and almost poignant. Amazing deep minerality that is so primal, almost of a different time. So special. Citrus, lime, crushed rocks, river stream. So many aromas. Such an array. One of the greatest noses on a young Riesling ever. Insanely juicy and complex with just electric acidity and minerality. Like a cloud with so many flavors and layers but oh so delicate. My god this is stunnIng. Epically long and well paced finish with insane levels of energy, lime sweet tart, huge minerals and insane structure. This needs 5 years and will age gracefully for 15-18. An accomplishment. — 11 days ago