Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.1

2015 doing exactly what 2015 does. Ripe, roasted, pretty, but pretty in a 2:30 a.m. lights-came-on way. The makeup is still on, the heels are in hand, and the room suddenly looks a little less forgiving. Still enjoyable, but this is not mystery or tension. This is Burgundy with its lipstick smeared. — 3 months ago

Matthew Cohen

9.5

Gorgeous cherry lipstick on the nose. Some antique wood. Some Elegant library dust. Really gorgeous an hour in.

Palate is sweet cherry fruit. Oh my god good. Some cherry licorice. Really delicious. The Buffet style. As it opens just supreme elegance. So silky.

Still a bit of clingy tanins. These meld in after an hour.

Fass selections — 3 years ago

Byron C Mayes

9.1

Star bright pale straw. Inviting nose of citrus rind and raw almond. Echoed on the medium palate which adds ginger, underripe mango, and birch. Tangy, medium plus acidity runs from entry to moderate finish. The second white of Valandraud is a lighter, brighter expression of "upper middle-scale" Bordeaux Blanc Sec. Great entry into the style for the New Zealand or modern California SB drinker. Pair with fresh water fish of course, but also fried chicken, roast suckling pig, or vegetarian fare. Drink now through 2025. — 4 years ago

Tom Garland

9.7

A happy Father's Day....this wine should do

1.5 hour decant (fine/cloudy sediment). A fantastic inky dark purplish garnet color. On the nose: very aromatic nose with dark cherry, crushed stone, that sweet aged cab perfume, smoke, forest floor, little blackberry, minty pine, and slight funky earth. Taste: a creamy, soft, juicy full body wine with blackberry, cedar, smoke, dark cherry, black licorice, and a chocolate tar long finish complimented by the silky fine tannins. YUM!

What more can I say except as the farmer says at the end of the movie Babe......"That'll do pig. That'll do." — 5 years ago

with Brenda

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

First ever Bourgogne Rouge from Brisset and it’s a doozy. Wow. Such stunning pure fruit on the nose. Wild berries, black cherry, so pure. Elegant spiced and underbrush. Pungent lipstick like intensity on the nose. Glorious fruit. Palate is as glorious as one would expect a Brisset Bourgogne Rouge to be. Gorgeous pure fruit, dense berries, black cherry, spice, awesome body and density. Amazing concentration and density for a Bourgogne Rouge and just thrilling pure fruit. What a finish! And I just popped it. It will surely open. Amazing palate presence. Sappy and so fresh. Briliant. — 6 years ago

with Matthew

Adam Kincaid

9.1

Sho-nuf I like my chateauneuf! Wild, floral, but muscular and strong.

Usually, I try to pay attention during wine tastings, but honestly a lot of the time I am just imagining how well I would do in American Gladiators. Especially the early 90s version. (When I was a young and impressionable kid.)

I thought Malibu was an idiot and I knew I could take him out in the jousting competition, though I was certain Nitro would bash my head in with a pipe pretty quickly. Diamond... she scared me. The intense lipstick reminded me of some horrible creature of the night in search of blood. I preferred Lace. In fact, I really preferred Lace. (The first version: Marisa Pare. Not the later Lace played by Natalie Lennox Merritt.) I imagine the reason I have a penchant for wild tangled hair now is because of my infatuation with American Gladiator Lace when I was 4-7 years old. When I was younger, I would often imagine battling with Lace. As the events got more intense she would throw herself on top of me in frustration and we'd roll down the gladiator pyramid, making out in a heap of sexual energy and wild animalistic thrusting.

But I digress.

This wine smells like Lace. — 6 years ago

Paul J

9.3

Another lovely wine! Better than last night but only marginally, so same score. These Spanish and Portuguese wines have the best textures. Definitely drink a little bit on the warmer side. This wine has more fruit and rust elements. Very refined and paired nicely with the suckling pig. — 7 years ago

with Brooke

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Faboosh! What a nose. Unreal Gevrey perfume of big cherries, violets, meat, spice and more. So complex and expressive. Really really perfumed it’s actually intoxicating. So juicy, sweet and dense with insane tiny berry fruit intensity and such purity. Wow the energy on this is off the charts. It’s super clean and the finish is all elegant limestone. Needs to open but man is this stuffed and aristocratic. Lipstick like intensity on the nose. So juicy and so concentrated with that just unforgettable Naddef fruit. Unreal sweetness. Picking up finesse as it airs out. — a year ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Great vintage for Boussey and this charmer of a wine. Expansive cherry and lovely dry, dusty earth on the nose and the fruit has a lipstick like intensity. Lovely, inviting and aromatic depth. Palate is silky, sweet and bursting with fresh cherries and lovely finesse and some good refinement for this level. Juicy and long with great fruit presence. Can’t ask for more in an under $30 Burgundy. — 3 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Gorgeously wide open nose of mid to late season cherries, gorgeous wet moss and earth, has a lipstick like stank to it, which is low yielding 16’s signature. Terrific depth to this nose. A nose that one can chew on. Juicy, round, fresh and structured with superb finesse and Pommard stoniness. Showing so well. I’m going to seek out other 16 Pommard village wines as this and the Bouley I had a few weeks ago were knockouts. This has such terrific fruit but is still holding back. I’d wait 3-4 year till next bottle but very very good wine today. — 5 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Mr. Ed makes an appearance right out of the gates. But there is also mineral. Deep red cherries. Lipstick like intensity. Mint, menthol. Really wafting stuff. The horse blends and just becomes a component of a dizzying array of aromas. Lapalu always a thrill. Palate is rich and vibrant with tangy freshness and loads of early season cherry and good acids. Ripe and substantial tannins. Closed a bit on the very long and mineral driven finish. A nice hit of opulence as well. Crazy raw materials here but as this is Lapalu this will need hours to come together. But it’s all there. — 6 years ago

Severn G

9.1

Nose has dried grape vines, (old) neutral oak barrel, dried black cherry, dried garden soil, (cooled) grilled tomato, graphite mechanical pencil refills, old coffee grounds and very dry compost/soil.

Palate has dried cherries resurrected in bacon fat, several day old sliced fresh cherries, blend of moist/dry soil with medium tannins. Cork pulled for a slow ox. for ~6h, then decanted ~1h. Picking up some since decanting, but still not moving the needle much. Likely great 5+ years ago, acceptable this evening.

Paired to a local pig, grilled pork chops from our favorite just over the border farmer (Highland Farm, Old Chatham, NY). Courtney only raises about six pigs every year, I'm overjoyed when we land some for our freezer, delicious factor 2x over just about anything else in the region.
(Pork was 93 points, if I had been more observant on internal temps would have been 95 points, still grilled to a wonderful medium.) — 6 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Stunning nose. Perfectly ripened mid-season cherries and loads of just perfect undergrowth. Also hints of very fine tweed jacket. A lipstick like intensity. Like a new Brioni. Gorgeous violets and other complex floral notes. Hints of citrus. This is just singing. Really stunning. It’s so clean and airy and just super Savigny. So pure and so dare I say it, Delectable. Palate is wonderful. So lifting with crunchy, ripe and gorgeous mid season sour and red cherry fruit. So vivid and detailed. Terrific inner mouth aromas of underbrush, violets, other floral notes and loads of crunchy cherry and even ripe cranberry fruit. Long and delineated with amazing energy and precision. Long, detailed with that perfect Burgundian finish of earth, mineral, cherry fruit, flowers and undergrowth. Superbly fine and refined tannins with lovely freshness than really pushes this finish to the next level. There is a tiny bit of rugged tannin on the finish which will resolve with age. — 7 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Gorgeous stanky nose of ripe black cherry, almost a lipstick like intensity. Almost cassis. Wonderful. Loads of earthy minerals and so much material. It smells dense and old viney. Sappy and dense with lovely purity and freshness and substantial but not imposing structure. Insane fruit in the palate that is vivid, energetic and startlingly pure. Long fruit set on the palate on the finish and a gorgeous dissipation. Awesome. — 7 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Nose is all mid season red cherries, cherry flower and so so pure. Mulberry, cranberry bog and so much more. Lipstick like intensity and just so focused and clear. Insane nose. Unreal limestone and depth but also it’s like it’s vibrating on its own plain. Wow what a palate. Juicy and structured with just silly good cherry fruit of the early to mid season style and unreal clarity, focus and linearity. Unreal concentration and depth. So stunning and like a squeegee on the palate. Now some violets on the nose and unreal concentration and sorry but light and ethereal. Stunning beyond belief.After air it gets more supple and textured. All red fruit on the palate. — 2 years ago

Bob McDonald

8.9

Deep dark Ruby in colour - almost black. Ripe dark plum flesh and skins on nose and palate - sweet fruit and chocolate. A mouthful of flavour if not a bit simple. McLaren Vale does these big rich Shirazes well. A crowd pleaser with excellent QPR - a gift from my brother in law. — 4 years ago

DC

9.3

Nose that fills up the whole room. I got rubber and ash and licorice and lipstick, but it’s a kaleidoscope and changes every five minutes for hours. Amazing stuff - wouldn’t waste it on a meal. — 5 years ago

Wulf Losee

9.8

2018 opened November 2021.

This is a wine that benefits from a long breathing time—but even an hour after decanting this wine stays aloof. It is what it is, and it’s not looking for your friendship. So, this is not a beginners wine. Don’t serve it to the hoi polloi. Hoard it, and reserve it for your pleasure and the pleasure of those who can appreciate it. ;-)

As for my tasting notes… Sage and a bit of eucalyptus on the nose. Intense red fruit on the front that reminds me of ripe red cherries, cassis, and the taste of red lipstick on a sensual kiss. It has an amazingly complex tannic structure. Wait, did I say tannic? I meant it has an amazing Tantric structure! It’s not ploddingly heavy like most of the cabs from Napa. The tannins have a gentle touch, but a lot of underlying muscle that will massage your tongue. The mid pallet is full of fruit and mineral high notes—plus bunch of impressions I can’t describe.It has a long finish that rings like a bell as it fades—and you can still imagine it ringing after the song is gone— but for full disclosure it also yields a sharp zap of bitterness at the end. This is a wine that demands your respect. And it will reject any silly sentimental love notes that you send it.

Frigging awesome wine!

If you’re not on the Quilceda Creek mailing list, get on it! Theres’s a waiting list backlog. I can see why!
— 5 years ago

with Zac, Winston and 5 others

Matthew Cohen

9.3

A great winemaker.

Nose is clean. Cherry lipstick. Awesome.

@delectable Jerome galeyrand marsanay combe du pre (pinot noir red)

Palate is fresh cherry fruit. Not super complex but so drinkable and so well made.

Maybe some sweet wood on the finish.

For what this is it’s about the best it can be. Terroir is ok but brilliant winemaking.

Bought from fass selections. — 6 years ago

Severn G

9.4

Nose has ripe plum, ripe blackberry, over-ripe strawberry, (light) anise, (light) sous-bois, dark chocolate bar, prune, year-old hay and moist leather.

Palate has chalky plum, dark chocolate, dried cherry, dried rose petals, autumn leaves, black tea, (light) cedar shavings and licorice on the very long finish. Outstanding.

Decanted ~2 hours. Purchased 30 December 2005, and carefully cellared until this day. Paired with a scratch made thick, rustic tomato sauce, sweet+hot sausage from a local, recent partial pig purchase and great campanelle pasta. Oh man, great paring, last bottle 😞.

Anyone holding this wine could until 2020+, based on the amount of tannins still present, this wine certainly has some years prior to decline. — 7 years ago