2011 Saarburger Rausch Spatlese

Destined for auction, and based on a first half of October selection that emphasized shriveled but still golden berries, the Zilliken 2011 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese A.P. #2 delivers citric brightness of almost severe tartness and electric energy, reflecting the concentration of acids that selection under this aspect promoted. The thousand liters of this lovely libation represent the lightest of four casks picked to in principle become Auslese (which the other three in fact did). Luscious mango, pink grapefruit, white peach, cherry and lemon are laced with lemon rind, nettle, peach kernel, crushed stone and salivary gland-milking acidity on a buoyant palate, leading to a tinglingly and invigoratingly bright as well as amazingly penetrating finish. This will leave you with teary eyes wide open; nose hairs at attention; and a shiver running down your spine. I suspect that it will still draw startled and delighted responses in 2040. Hanno and Dorothee Zilliken could truly glory in a 2011 harvest whose lowest must weight material was already legally Auslese, thanks to their having managed, despite that fact, to render many wines of genuine delicacy, and absolutely none in which levels of either alcohol or residual sugar became problematic. Mind you, when it comes to residual sugar, I can-t offhand recall wines from any vintage at this estate that seemed overly-sweet, so uncanny and hence storied has been Hanno Zilliken-s knack for showcasing Riesling-s talent at hiding sugar. But he was quite correct when he predicted, -You will be astonished to discover that we managed to render Saarburg Riesling trocken of just 11% alcohol.- That this is indeed consistent with Auslese-level must weights is simply a matter of math and chemistry, but sadly one seldom witnesses it. -We-ve never bottled so much dry wine,- notes Zilliken of his 2011 collection as a whole, -but the conditions were perfect for it.- Picking began on the 4th of that month, as soon as a hot spell had relented, and concluding October 25. In view of the enormous number of botrytis bottlings associated with this vintage, not to mention with past performances of this estate, their absence from the 2011 Zilliken collection initially seems remarkable. But in light of the mixed 2011 results displayed in this genre even at many of Germany-s top Riesling addresses, Hanno Zilliken-s narrative renders that absence understandable. -We started searching and selecting for botrytis,- he explains, -but the material was far from homogeneous, and we just didn-t find the precision for which we look. Already in August we had wasps, and in early September the berries began pressing against one another in the compact bunches on younger vines. It was a hard decision, but I want to be able to sleep easily at night, and finally I decided: -We-re not accepting one single brown berry; only golden shriveled berries.-- Given both the stylistic range of this uniformly successful collection, I found it hard to believe that all of it was bottled already in late March and early April following harvest. Incidentally, although since 2009 - in keeping with VDP strictures and models - Zillikens have bottled numerous wines without the -Rausch- vineyard-designation, all of their non-Ockfen wines, in fact, now officially grow in that site, since the two adjacent Einzellagen - Antoniusbrunnen and Begschlosschen - in which Zilliken had minimal holdings were mustered out two years ago and their acreage subsumed under -Rausch.- (Details on recent changes in labeling at this estate and be found in part in my introduction in Issue 199, and otherwise within the relevant tasting notes comprising this report.) Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463

A different style from 2010, when every ounce of extract and residual sugar had to be fought for. In 2011 the fruit has turned out a lot more opulent with real ripe and exotic notes. Very luscious and juicy, it still sports enough acidity to go long distance. Invigoratingly fresh, this Spätlese uses a spicy tangent to lift it into the complexity stakes, whereas in 2010 the emphasis seemed to be more on minerality. In terms of sheer class they cannot be separated! (MS)