This wine has only slightly budged in its evolution since release. After an hour in the glass to let it unfurl, there are wonderful aromas of petrichor, white peach, Bosc pear, and grapefruit, with subtle undertones of smoke and orange citrus. The palate is light and playful, but with a creamy texture, and an excellent balance of sweet orange fruit/orange creamsicle notes and tart grapefruit over a base of wet slate.
A spätlese in disguise, I think this will reach peak enjoyment in another 5-8 years. Regardless, it’s still very delicious now. (93 pts.)
Zilliken lasts forever…Nice note Brian.
Hanno’s style has always been more spätlese-in-kabinett clothing, with the high acid and dry extract to “keep it light and playful”.
I believe that that '15 Rausch Kabinett was chosen as “Kabinett of the Vintage” in the Gault Millau. I bought a ton of it, and still have several cases, as I knew it was going to last longer than anyone has patience…
Fwiw, I used to work with the wines when handled by Rudi Wiest.
I love Zilliken’s wines. Have had 2013 and 2014 Rausch Kabinetts in the last couple of months and both of them were also fabulous and too young, esp. the 2014. My son-in-law loves Zilliken’s wines so we often open one when they come over.
Just picked up 3 bottles of '97 (anniversary year) Saarburger Rausch Auslese gold capsule at auction on a whim at a very reasonable price. I have always enjoyed the Kabs and Spatlese so I figured what the heck, since my wife likes good Riesling with residual sugar. BTW Brian I think your description is spot-on.
In addition to that mindblowing 1988 Eiswein we had at the estate, I bought a couple 2005 auslese auction 375 mLs and 2010 spatlese auction 750 mLs from Dee Vine a couple years. The auslese auction bottle was something else…
2005 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese Auction- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (2/11/2020)
Purchased from Dee Vine, and boy was this DI-VINE! Gorgeous bouquet of orange marmalade, honeysuckle, chamomile, apricot, yellow flowers, smoke. Nice concentration and body, the wine is incredibly fresh and youthful, with an everlasting finish of lemon/lime zest, white smoke, and vanilla cream held up by bright acidity. I finished my glass 30 minutes ago and still the flavors linger on the palate. Outstanding! (98 pts.)
2015 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett #9 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (9/13/2022)
This seemed rather closed in/ungiving for several hours. It eventually opened up, and some of that mid-palate complexity that comes with aged Kabinett started to creep in, but it was just around the edges. I suspect this really needs another couple of years to emerge from sleep. Lots of air can help, but cellar time is always better IMO.
