Lyle Fass 
Martin Müllen
Alte Reben Kröver Paradies Riesling Spätlese** Trocken 2023
Gorgeous, wildly aromatic Paradies, with huge slate-pebble minerality, lemon and lime, white peach, apricot, wild mint and citrus skin, along with this wonderfully feral, almost underarm-like savory funk that makes the nose so distinctive. The palate is luscious, crystalline and incredibly pure, with beautiful citrus fruit, excellent concentration and exactly enough acidity to keep everything fresh without dominating the wine. With air it becomes rounder, juicier and more harmonious, very much the charm of 2023, which for me is about as normie and immediately pleasurable as a Müllen vintage gets. Long, balanced and beautiful, with terrific purity and no hard edges. 9.6 for now, and I’ll see what day two brings.
— 20 hours ago
Garaudet Père et Fils
Bourgogne Chardonnay 2023
Gorgeous, Meursault-like Bourgogne Chardonnay with sweet lime zest and flesh, a touch of butter and beautifully judged framing oak. With air the nose turns increasingly airy and mineral, with excellent clarity and purity. The palate is rich, ripe and unctuous, with an almost icing-on-cake texture, terrific density and chew, but enough freshness and salinity to keep everything lifted. Very sappy, very well constructed, with a long, mouthwatering mineral finish. 9.4 upside — 7 days ago
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Volnay Santenots-du-Milieu 1er Cru Pinot Noir 2006
Beautifully mature-looking but still not fully mature Volnay Santenots, with an expansive, confectionery nose of mid-season cherry, a faint touch of caramelized cherry, desiccated leaves, citrus peel, moss and beautifully precise wet earth. The aromatics are the star, already operating closer to 9.6 or 9.7, with terrific definition and that muscular Santenots character beginning to soften into something more layered and elegant. The palate is concentrated and dense, with excellent inner-mouth aromas, layered tannins and very good freshness, though the tannins became a little more assertive with air before settling back down. Fantastic wine at twenty years old, but still carrying enough structure that I would not call it fully mature. — 20 hours ago
Scarpa (Antica Casa Vinicola Scarpa)
Tettimorra Barolo Nebbiolo 2021
Magnificent, deeply traditional Barolo. The nose opens with burning embers, campfire, road tar, dried roses and a huge range of savory exotic spice, then grows more loamy with air, bringing in wood shavings, old library books and classic Nebbiolo earthiness. The palate is dazzlingly concentrated but beautifully controlled, with exquisite red fruit, layers of cherry, superb linearity and wonderfully articulated tannins. Dense without heaviness, elegant despite the power, and architecturally complete. The finish is extraordinarily long and saturated with fruit, tannin and mineral detail. Already a superb Barolo, with obvious 9.7 upside as it continues to open.
After an hour and a half, this has gone to another level. The nose is now wildly floral and almost four-dimensional, with extraordinary depth and perfume, easily 9.7 to 9.8 aromatically. The palate has become even more beautiful, juicy and seamless, with velvety, sweet tannins and incredible tiny-berry fruit intensity. The structure is still serious, but everything is now more integrated and complete. 9.6 to 9.7. — 7 days ago
Winzerhof Thörle
Hölle Spätburgunder 2023
Completely glorious showing. Wide open from the start, with huge, kinked-out aromatics and beautiful, forward fruit that manages to be opulent without losing any precision. The palate is seamless, juicy and perfectly balanced, with terrific concentration, gorgeous texture and that almost absurd Thörle sense of engineering where everything is exactly where it should be. Not a hair out of place. Just a stunning, complete bottle of Spätburgunder and ridiculously beautiful to drink.
Day two confirms the 2023 Thörle Hölle Spätburgunder at 9.7, with the nose even more outrageous, easily 9.8 to 9.9, exploding with leather, spice cake, birthday-cake confectionery and this wildly perfumed, almost decadent aromatic intensity. The palate is juicy, deeply textured and beautifully pure, with velvety but still significant tannins, tangy 2023 fruit and tremendous concentration without losing elegance.
The inner-mouth aromatics are unbelievable now, and the wine has that wonderful 2023 combination of generosity and precision that you get in both Burgundy and Germany. Still obviously very young, but already extraordinarily complete. Tremendous wine, and 9.7 still feels exactly right. — 20 hours ago
Domaine du Tunnel (Stéphane Robert)
Pur Noir Cornas Syrah 2017
The nose is intensely ripe and liqueur-like, with kirsch, cassis, blackberry and other dark fruit, along with spice, potpourri, leather, graphite and camphor. There is a polished, expensive-smelling quality to it, but everything feels blurred and overworked rather than focused. The palate is concentrated, juicy and very long, with big tannins and plenty of material, but the alcohol sticks out everywhere and the ripeness keeps pushing the wine out of balance. It tastes expensive, but at the moment that feels more like a facade than substance. I’m absolutely willing to let this improve with air, especially given the wine’s reputation, but right now 8.8 is where it is.
With more air, this has improved from 8.8 to 9.1. The nose is still remarkably blasé and unfocused, basically generic red-wine aromatics without much identity or finesse. The palate has come together considerably, with less obvious heat, better balance, good freshness, serious length and massive tiny-berry fruit concentration. Still highly extracted and overdone, with enormous material but essentially zero finesse, yet at least now it feels like a coherent wine rather than a complete mess. — 5 days ago
Rivera
Riserva Il Falcone Castel del Monte Rosso 2020
The nose was initially the best part of the wine, with red plum, spice, leather, tree bark and woodland berry, but even that faded significantly on day two. The palate never came together. Juicy enough, with decent freshness, but the alcohol keeps poking through from every direction and overwhelms the fruit and structure. Drying tannins, enveloping heat and a messy, disjointed shape. Not a good wine. — 7 days ago
Lyle Fass
Founder Fass Selections
Huge, expansive aromatics with crystalline purity and that beautiful Meursault funk underneath, giving the wine both lift and real personality. The palate is extraordinarily elegant, pure and seamless, with superb concentration, tremendous length and that unmistakable Brisset white Burgundy texture, dense and tactile without ever feeling heavy. Beautifully proportioned, refined and complete, with the kind of effortless balance that makes the wine feel much more serious than its village designation. — 10 hours ago