Zilliken

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 one of the primary founders of the VDP growers group. All wine labels will have the image of a German eagle and VDP on the cork closure, recognizing this group of growers; the VDP serves to guarantee quality and promote the wines of Germany and its regions. When Ferdinand Geltz dies in 1925, his vineyards were split between his two daughters. Ella, who received 40% of the vineyards (Antoinette, the other daughter was to marry a member of Germany’s upper class military. She needed a larger dowry; these lands were entitled Forstmeister Geltz) Ella then spilt her lands in half; her daughter Marianne married Fritz Zilliken in 1947. The family’s cellar and winery were destroyed in heavy bombing on Christmas in 1944. Fritz and Marianne bought a cellar on Heckingstreet, which their son, Hans-Joachim still operates. The Zilliken family believes that great wine only comes through patience and all that is needed exists in the vineyard. No wine can ever surpass what the soil, the vine and climate give it. The undulations and inclinations of the Saarburger Rausch vineyard possess a unique combination of the climate's wide spectrum of possibilities. The morning fog which rises from the river Saar, the rays of the sun and the wind that moves through the valleys. All their Riesling is cultivated on 27.5 acres of steep, south-facing terrain dominated by Devonian blue slate, the source of their wine’s intense minerality. The goal is to preserve the vineyard’s complex microcosm of plants and animals. The precarious nature of the vineyards comes with an obligation to respect the eco-system.