What Is the Fass Selections Style?

Customers who have had more than a few bottles of wine that I sell often comment that they can tell when they open a bottle that it is one that I have selected.  There is definitely a consistent profile across the wines.  I’ve been asked several times to explain what the style of my portfolio is and to be honest, it’s hard to put into words.  "I know it when I see it, " as Justice Potter Stewart once famously said.  But that is sort of a copout.  So I will endeavor to explain it as best I can.

Juiciness.  Perhaps the most important characteristic of a wine that I like is that it has that fresh,  juicy flavor profile that you get when you taste a fresh, perfectly ripe, acidic grape. I used to eat them in
the summer as a kid and I can never forget the really great ones. Wine is, after all, made from grapes and it should reflect this crucial aspect. Juicy wines make you salivate.  They make you feel refreshed. They make you want more.  They allow the wine to go well with food.  I always try to select  wines always always have balancing acidity because that is what you need to have that refreshing juicy taste.  Otherwise, the wines can be heavy, jammy and, to be honest, boring.

Minerality.  I’ve always felt that the three main components in wine are fruit, acid and minerality. Minerality, is of course, a catch phrase for flavors that taste how we think minerals taste.  I like minerality in my wines because it makes the wines more interesting to drink.  Fruit and acidity are nice and I do sell some wines that are not particularly mineral (they are generally entry level or wines that have some other flavor that makes them interesting) but I would say that wines in my portfolio tends towards being more mineral than the average wine.

Purity.  This is certainly an odd word to describe wine.  What I mean is that there are no off flavors that are added to the wine that detract from those in the grapes on harvest.  I want people to taste the grape and the terroir.  I want people to taste the difference between Les Vergelesses and  Sous Fretilles.  I want them to taste the difference between Frauenberg and Am Schwarzen Herrgott.  I do not want them to taste brettanomyces.  I do not want them to taste wood.

(A Brief Note on Wood)  I am not opposed to the used of wood in the ageing of wine obviously.  Proper use of wood can add structure to wine and is also can help age wine as wood is more porous than steel which allows in the oxygen that helps wine become drinkable.  What I do not like is wine that tastes like wood.  There certainly is a school of thought that new French oak makes for the best wines. And there certainly are some stunning wines that are aged in new French oak.  The issue is that these wines taste like new French oak for several years.  And most customers do not have the patience or the cellar space to store wines for a decade or more.  It takes a truly expert taster to ignore the oak taste and see the glimmer of what the wine will be in 10 years.  Additionally, (for white wines) there is risk that the wines will suffer from premature oxidation before the wood flavors integrate.  So I tend not to sell many wines that have significant oak taste on release.


Balance.  I really try and focus on finding balanced wines...but not too balanced.  Balance is a good thing.  I can’t stand wines that are all about fruit, because they are jammy and dull.  Or all about acidity because they are screechy.  Fruit, acidity, minerality, all in balance make for a wine that has great flavors but is presented in a harmonious way and is drinkable.  They also allow for other flavors to shine through without hogging the stage all for themselves.  Unbalanced wines tend to be monochromatic and moring.

(A Brief Note on Flaws)  What does not too balanced mean?  I do NOT look for wines that are flawless.  There are some people in the wine business who look for wines that are perfectly balanced. Without a hint of brett or a hint of wood or a hint of volatile acidity or anything else that a professional taster can detect.  Too much of this is, to me, just experts trying to find a hint of a flaw that 99.9% of people can’t detect.  They are flawmeisters.  And you know what?  The wines that these people like tend to be boring.  They look for perfectly seamless wines that they can praise themselves for having found.  These people should be drinking purified water.  There is nothing wrong with a wine with a touch too much acidity or a touch too much fruit on occasion.  And even a hint of brett is fine on occasion (please read Clark Smith’s interesting article on this for a more comprehensive discussion on this topic http://www.postmodernwinemaking.com/ibm).  Was Cindy Crawford ugly because of her mole or was this the “flaw” that more her more beautiful and memorable.  Please be clear, I do not sell wines that are “flawed.”  Purity is still something I look for as I want the grapes and terroir to shine through.  But winemaking is an art, not a science and looking to avoid hints of flaws is looking for perfection, and that does not exist in people or in wine.

Contemplativeness.  I’m not sure  this is a word that should properly be used to describe wine.  But my favorite wines are wines that I can sit and contemplate for a day or 2.  While I certainly do enjoy drinking wine for pure pleasure, at this point, I’m more driven by trying to understand a wine.  The more complex, the more challenging and interesting a task this is.  A truly contemplative wine is like reading a book with great character development.  The wine changes from minute to minute.  It reveals new things.  At some times, it is shy and reserved.  At some times it is more bold.  Certainly, not all of my wines are like this.  After all, we don’t want to read James Joyce every night and we should not want to sit and focus on a bottle of wine every night either.  But these are the wines that, in my opinion, are my favorite wines in my portfolio and really what I am trying to achieve as an importer.