Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

The new vintage! Yay! Just a stunning nose that is at once confectionary, opulent and chiseled. Just insane. It has that aromatic roundness that very very few wines get. Like an orb of Cassaneas. Lime zest, sea salt, green apple skins. Unreal clarity. What a palate. Concentrated and deep but showing a bit of shock (arrived 5 days ago) and seems a bit clipped on the mid and finish. But man the length tells me this will expand like a peacock’s tail. Unreal density and concentration but is light as a feather. So juicy and acid is very good but it’s no 22 or 21. Think 19 or 17. Nose is so saline. Man the energy and almost tannic grip on the palate is brilliant as it fleshes out. This will be tracked tonight. Wow with a few hours of air this is like a better 18 Cassaneas and that’s the best one ever. This now has an icing on cake texture and outstanding purity, depth, texture and freshness. 9.6. Wow. On Day 2 this is even more elegant and is so close to a 9.7. What a wine! — 14 days ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.4

Beautiful black fruit, spice, garigue and tar. Will improve over the next 5 to 10 years but very sexy juice right now. Magnum bottle. — 11 days ago

Galen Hasler

9.2

Watermelon, cranberry acidity, charming. Opened up beautifully after 4 hours — 25 days ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.5

La mouline to finish. Good lineup for the night. Dalforno1st, piano 2nd, la mouline3rd, lambrays 4th, gonon 5th. Problem they are all excellent so difficult to put a rating. Good birthday. — 5 days ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.2

Smokey, blackberries and cherries. Very drinkable now, extremely bright. Love Gonon. — 13 days ago

Vino Joe

9.5

Right in the wheelhouse now. Spicy and lingering. Deep mouthfeel. Excellent! — a month ago

Jay Kline

9.5

Opened and double decanted several hours prior to service; enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 1997 Grange pours a deep purple color with an opaque core moving towards a ruby rim; medium+ viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of ripe and tart black, red and some blue fruits: blackberries, raspberries, Fig Newtons, tobacco, purple flowers, cocoa, coffee, some mint and other green herbs as well as earth and baking spices. On the palate the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is so long and there is remarkable density. I would say this is entering its early drinking window, but just barely. I find these wines need decades to shed their fat and really start to strut. Regardless, this is delicious now with a healthy decant and should drink well through 2057 without breaking a sweat. — 2 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium deep ruby , narrow, ruby rim . Quite juicy , blackberry , blackcurrant notes , touch of grafite, oyster shell and violet . On the palate this is quite juicy with ripe dark fruit , cassis , grafite tinged blackberry , good fresh saline tinged acidity and rounded fine tannins . Decent length too . This is drinking well but is still quite fruit focused , not much in the way of development, will continue to show well over the next 10 years — 3 days ago

romo

9.3

Holy shit this is good. Chetillons magic. — 3 days ago

Tyler Felous

10

Just perfect. — 20 days ago