Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken is one of our favorite classic Riesling estates in Germany. Their seemingly honey-laced wines drawn from the heavens have been enchanting us for decades. Since 1742, Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken has captured lightning in a bottle—harnessing the lusciously tropical nature of Riesling with the electric acidity in wines that come from the coldest part of the Mosel... the Saar. These wines only matched by their awe-inspiring, larger-than-life-sized images of stone fruit and slate. Big, kaleidoscopic wines, (all while maintaining a delicate and lacy quality), and maturing is a MUST to fully get their potential. But, when accomplished, you are handsomely rewarded-- as time has metamorphized these wines into the stunning creatures they were destined to become.
Known to German wine lovers as simply, "Zilliken," their formal name is Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken. The word 'Forstmeister' translates to "forrest master" and is a reference to Hanno’s grandfather, Ferdinand Geltz, who was a forester for the King of Prussia. He established the winery in the 1890’s when he planted vines on one of the steepest hillsides in Germany, overlooking the Saar River and the town of Saarburger in the valley below. Ferdinand Geltz was also one of the first founders of the VDP grower’s group, the quality guarantee still recognized today.
This wine is from the revered (one would argue Grand Cru) Saarburger Rausch vineyard, a 27-acre historic parcel containing everything from medium-gray, fine layered Devonian slate to diabase, which originated as volcanic magma. The roots of the Riesling vine penetrate up to 32 feet deep in the rock face. From the depths of the Rausch soil the Riesling draws its characteristic minerality and an incomparable elegance. The Zillikens purposefully limit their yields in their prized vineyards to a maximum of 50 hectares (123 acres) in order to guarantee the best possible complexity and quality.
We visited the Zillikens in 2017, where we met with the humble and gracious Riesling legends Hanno Zilliken and daughter Dorothee, who has been working with her father since 2007, and officially took over as winemaker in 2016. The family works the vines with minimal intervention, focusing on the healthiest fruit possible to create the best wines. Zilliken has the deepest underground cellar within the Saar Valley that plunges down an extraordinary three stories beneath the earth, giving the cellar optimal storage conditions of 100% humidity and a consistently cool temperature of 50F degrees year-round. This helps fermentation stay slow in their preferred neutral oak casks, where the wines are vinified from start to finish. Zilliken remains an icon of Germany, producing gallantly complex and balanced wines of intense drive and acidity that carry their significant sugar with perfect poise.
Seize this last opportunity to add these historic vintages to your cellar for pure pleasure and memorable sipping!
WINE ADVOCATE 93 POINTS - "Zilliken considers his 7.5% alcohol 2011 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese A.P. #3 -an example of all the concentration of sugar and flavor that healthy Riesling grapes can assimilate before the berries- skins become attenuated and they begin to shrivel.- Scents and luscious juiciness of apple, mango, Persian melon and pink grapefruit place this with one foot in the tropics and the other in northerly climes. Suggestions of nut pastes pull in a confectionary direction while wet stone and green herbal essences add metaphorical cooling influence on a palate of utmost delicacy and levity, both subtly creamy and persistently refreshing. The generous 8,000 liters of this strikingly pure and buoyant exercise in residually sweet Riesling should be worth following through at least 2035 and are apt to reveal yet further nuanced complexity along the way." David Schildknecht.
Known to German wine lovers as simply, "Zilliken," their formal name is Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken. The word 'Forstmeister' translates to "forrest master" and is a reference to Hanno’s grandfather, Ferdinand Geltz, who was a forester for the King of Prussia. He established the winery in the 1890’s when he planted vines on one of the steepest hillsides in Germany, overlooking the Saar River and the town of Saarburger in the valley below. Ferdinand Geltz was also one of the first founders of the VDP grower’s group, the quality guarantee still recognized today.
This wine is from the revered (one would argue Grand Cru) Saarburger Rausch vineyard, a 27-acre historic parcel containing everything from medium-gray, fine layered Devonian slate to diabase, which originated as volcanic magma. The roots of the Riesling vine penetrate up to 32 feet deep in the rock face. From the depths of the Rausch soil the Riesling draws its characteristic minerality and an incomparable elegance. The Zillikens purposefully limit their yields in their prized vineyards to a maximum of 50 hectares (123 acres) in order to guarantee the best possible complexity and quality.
We visited the Zillikens in 2017, where we met with the humble and gracious Riesling legends Hanno Zilliken and daughter Dorothee, who has been working with her father since 2007, and officially took over as winemaker in 2016. The family works the vines with minimal intervention, focusing on the healthiest fruit possible to create the best wines. Zilliken has the deepest underground cellar within the Saar Valley that plunges down an extraordinary three stories beneath the earth, giving the cellar optimal storage conditions of 100% humidity and a consistently cool temperature of 50F degrees year-round. This helps fermentation stay slow in their preferred neutral oak casks, where the wines are vinified from start to finish. Zilliken remains an icon of Germany, producing gallantly complex and balanced wines of intense drive and acidity that carry their significant sugar with perfect poise.
Seize this last opportunity to add these historic vintages to your cellar for pure pleasure and memorable sipping!
WINE ADVOCATE 93 POINTS - "Zilliken considers his 7.5% alcohol 2011 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese A.P. #3 -an example of all the concentration of sugar and flavor that healthy Riesling grapes can assimilate before the berries- skins become attenuated and they begin to shrivel.- Scents and luscious juiciness of apple, mango, Persian melon and pink grapefruit place this with one foot in the tropics and the other in northerly climes. Suggestions of nut pastes pull in a confectionary direction while wet stone and green herbal essences add metaphorical cooling influence on a palate of utmost delicacy and levity, both subtly creamy and persistently refreshing. The generous 8,000 liters of this strikingly pure and buoyant exercise in residually sweet Riesling should be worth following through at least 2035 and are apt to reveal yet further nuanced complexity along the way." David Schildknecht.
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