Description

The Zilliken family have farmed in Saarburg in the winding Saar Valley since 1742, the winery is currently run by Dorothee Zilliken, though her father Hanno is still involved. Their wines are fermented and aged slowly in their deep, cool, damp cellar in Saarburg in old oak 1000 litre foudres, no stainless steel or concrete eggs here, its real old school. The results are a stunning range of wines which are not to be missed, these wines cellar beautifully and are well worth tucking away for the full experience.

They own half of the imposing south facing 22 hectare Rausch vineyard, overlooking Saarburg, the wide range of soils, mostly slate over volcanic diabase rock, give vibrant minerality and acidity.  The vines are some of the oldest in the Mosel, some 70 years old and a plot of ungrafted vines which are more than 130 years old.

The bouquet is reminiscent of grapefruit, pineapple, orange blossom, and slate. The taste of this Auslese, which finishes with a fine raisin aroma, is very dense, creamy, and tropical. The complexity is balanced by a lively, weightless finish. The wine’s acidity presents itself as invigorating and fresh to achieve a radiant brilliance. This Auslese is already enjoyable at a young age but shows its full potential with more maturity (10+ years).  Beautifully balancing the 97.8 g/l of residual sugar with 6.6 g/l of total acidity and 8% Alcohol aided by the Saar’s cool climate one of the last places to pick in Germany.

On a memorable visit there recently, I tried the same wine from the 2005 vintage, quite wonderful with ripe peach and real power, still as fresh as a daisy… age adds so much complexity to these wines and I kicked myself for not tucking some away before!

The perfect companion to aged cheeses such as blue cheese or a creamy Vacherin; ideal as a dessert wine accompanied with robust, dark chocolate (e.g. mousse, soufflé tart)