Though we don't offer wines from Zillikin often, they are one of the stars of the Mosel, and we have an excellent GG here today. One of the Saar's most historic estates, Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken, dates back to 1742 and is now helmed by 11th-generation winemaker Dorothee Zilliken. The Rausch vineyard, which sees some of the oldest vines of the estate, is a steep, Devonian slate site totaling 11 hectares and is Zilliken's flagship, planted entirely to Riesling and tended with sustainable practices. The 2022 vintage in the Saar was marked by a warm, dry summer balanced by cool nights and timely rains, yielding concentrated but precise wines perfect for the production of the Dry GG style. Zilliken remains one of the few top producers to ferment entirely in large neutral fuder casks using ambient yeasts, preserving site transparency and textural finesse. This GG bottling is razor-sharp and mineral-driven, showing tightly coiled citrus, white peach, crushed slate, and an energetic, acidic spine. Built for long aging but already showing excellent structure and purity in its youth, it's a great buy for the GG category and comes in at slightly lower pricing than some of the other well-known GGs. We have excellent pricing today on this one, and it's a fantastic buy for dry Riesling!
James Suckling 95 points! "A masterpiece of filigree! Very delicate and subtle with a spring meadow freshness, this has stacks of white peach and yellow apple fruit. Wonderfully elegant this sleek beauty dances its way over your palate. Very racy, wet stone finish, but without the pointed acidity to which the Saar tends. Drink or hold."
John Gilman 94 points! "The technical details of the Zillikens’ 2022 Rausch Riesling Grosses Gewächs finds the wine coming in at twelve percent alcohol, with 8.7 grams per liter of residual sugar and acids of 7.3 grams per liter. Aromatically, the wine is more open and expressive out of the blocks than the Bockstein GG, with the bouquet hopping from the glass in a complex blend of fresh lime, tart orange, cress, a lovely foundation of grey slate minerality, lavender, wild yeasts, citrus peel and incipient notes of Rausch smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, superb mineral undertow and cut, bright acids, superb balance and a long, precise and vibrant finish. This is as beautiful bottle of Grosses Gewächs, with the same inherent elegance found in the 2022 Bockstein GG, but with a bit more depth, length and potential."
Vinous (Anne Krebiehl) 93 points! "The 2022 Riesling Saarburger Rausch Grosses Gewächs was harvested in the 140-year-old and the 72-year-old parcels of the Rausch, both in the lower reaches of the slope, down to the foot of the slope. The palate is gentle and creamy, concentration and lightness coincide, depth and power align, and there is almost a sense of Williams pear, but always tempered with creaminess. The finish is textured and elegant. It needs time to fall into place, and it will. (Dry) (Drink between 2025-2050)"
2022 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Großes Gewächs
2022 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Großes Gewächs
Though we don't offer wines from Zillikin often, they are one of the stars of the Mosel, and we have an excellent GG here today. One of the Saar's most historic estates, Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken, dates back to 1742 and is now helmed by 11th-generation winemaker Dorothee Zilliken. The Rausch vineyard, which sees some of the oldest vines of the estate, is a steep, Devonian slate site totaling 11 hectares and is Zilliken's flagship, planted entirely to Riesling and tended with sustainable practices. The 2022 vintage in the Saar was marked by a warm, dry summer balanced by cool nights and timely rains, yielding concentrated but precise wines perfect for the production of the Dry GG style. Zilliken remains one of the few top producers to ferment entirely in large neutral fuder casks using ambient yeasts, preserving site transparency and textural finesse. This GG bottling is razor-sharp and mineral-driven, showing tightly coiled citrus, white peach, crushed slate, and an energetic, acidic spine. Built for long aging but already showing excellent structure and purity in its youth, it's a great buy for the GG category and comes in at slightly lower pricing than some of the other well-known GGs. We have excellent pricing today on this one, and it's a fantastic buy for dry Riesling!
James Suckling 95 points! "A masterpiece of filigree! Very delicate and subtle with a spring meadow freshness, this has stacks of white peach and yellow apple fruit. Wonderfully elegant this sleek beauty dances its way over your palate. Very racy, wet stone finish, but without the pointed acidity to which the Saar tends. Drink or hold."
John Gilman 94 points! "The technical details of the Zillikens’ 2022 Rausch Riesling Grosses Gewächs finds the wine coming in at twelve percent alcohol, with 8.7 grams per liter of residual sugar and acids of 7.3 grams per liter. Aromatically, the wine is more open and expressive out of the blocks than the Bockstein GG, with the bouquet hopping from the glass in a complex blend of fresh lime, tart orange, cress, a lovely foundation of grey slate minerality, lavender, wild yeasts, citrus peel and incipient notes of Rausch smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, superb mineral undertow and cut, bright acids, superb balance and a long, precise and vibrant finish. This is as beautiful bottle of Grosses Gewächs, with the same inherent elegance found in the 2022 Bockstein GG, but with a bit more depth, length and potential."
Vinous (Anne Krebiehl) 93 points! "The 2022 Riesling Saarburger Rausch Grosses Gewächs was harvested in the 140-year-old and the 72-year-old parcels of the Rausch, both in the lower reaches of the slope, down to the foot of the slope. The palate is gentle and creamy, concentration and lightness coincide, depth and power align, and there is almost a sense of Williams pear, but always tempered with creaminess. The finish is textured and elegant. It needs time to fall into place, and it will. (Dry) (Drink between 2025-2050)"
