Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese, Zilliken
Staff Pick

Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese, Zilliken - 2020

Item # 16781 750mL

Zilliken makes some of the best wines in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. More specifically, they come from the sub-region of the Saar, noted as more delicate and restrained in wine character. The wines are fermented and aged in German oak casks. The wines are dusty and crystalline in their youth, and evolve elegantly with age.

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Staff Pick Notes

Nectar of the gods...

This Zilliken family estate is managed currently by Hans-Joachim Zilliken, with the help of his daughter Dorothee. She is qualified to do so; having toiled in the family vineyards and worked an internship at estates in Germany and Alsace, she then went on to study viticulture and oenology. The fruit, once at the winery, is pressed in stainless steel and allowed to clarify, before being transferred by gravity to German oak vats where the wines are fermented and aged, before being returned to steel for assemblage and bottling. This wine is amazing: it has a beautiful golden color with lime streaks. The nose is an intoxicating blend of honey and lime, like a burst of key lime pie. The taste is of elegant lemon meringue and baked filo dough glazed with butter.

- JR

About the Producer

Saarburg, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany The Gelz-Zilliken family has been making wine for over 260 years in Saarburg, a picturesque town dating to the Middle Ages. As early as 1742, records show that the Zilliken family were active as wine producers in both Saarburg and Ockfen. The status of the estate and their wines’ reputation were established by Ferdinand Geltz, a Royal Prussian Forester who was...

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Glossary

Germany

German wines are some of the most jubilantly fruity bottles in the world. The country's Rieslings have been prized worldwide for centuries, yet they have never quite caught on in the U.S.: this no doubt due to Germany’s arcane system of wine classification. The most useful words to know on German wine labels are “Kabinett,” which indicates an outstanding everyday wine, and “trocken,” which means “dry.” As far as dessert wines go, a half-bottle of German Eiswein is so potent that you'll be able...

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Riesling

Though the trend is now in the other direction, for many years Riesling was known for producing wines with little alcohol and some residual sugar - too sweet for many modern wine drinkers. Though it's now cultivated worldwide, Riesling is nearly synonymous with German wine, and that country's winemakers have lately begun to produce some very exciting dry versions. They are careful to retain the delightful honeyed, flinty flavors that the best sweet Rieslings have always displayed. Alsace, of...

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Saar

An anise-flavored liqueur.


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