B-21 Top Recommendation
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"Dorothee Zilliken once again managed to portray the ethereal, almost weightless and veil-like style of Saar Riesling for which the house is famed." - Anne Krebhiel, Vinous
The Middle Mosel gets the lion's share of attention in the region, but German Riesling insiders know that some of the finest expressions for the money can be found along the Saar tributary, a narrow river valley meeting the Upper Mosel from the south. The steep cliffs and high winds are perilous viticultural challenges, and the small Saar river doesn't provide any of the meso-climatic advantages found on the Mosel itself. But the south-facing vineyards enjoy the ideal exposition and slope to ripen grapes, and the results are some of the most crystalline, elegant Rieslings in the world.
The 2023 vintage played perfectly to the Saar's advantage, with the valley avoiding much of the harvest rains that fell on the rest of the Mosel. Rausch's south-southwest facing parcels of broken Greywacke and Devonian slate are the perfect foundations for Zilliken's style. The JS95 Kabinett is "intense and complex, gorgeously saline and filigreed" according to Wine Advocate, while the double 96-point Spätlese is "elegant, beautifully clear, luminous, intense and yet so light," perfectly encapsulating what makes the finest Saar expressions stand out from the their contemporaries. Finally, we come to the fabulous 2023 GGs, starting with the Rausch, "a rich and complex yet always pure, saline and mineral Rausch that bears great complexity and mineral tension" according to Advocate. Keen-eyed collectors won't overlook the "fabulous" WA95 Ockfen Bockstein GG, "a full-bodied, complex, very long, saline and stimulating Riesling of exceptional quality," as described by Advocate's Stephan Reinhardt.
Zilliken's wines are always exemplary offerings that stand at the very best of the Mosel/Saar, and collectors and enthusiasts won't want to miss these cellar contenders that will shine for decades.
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