Rausch Riesling Kabinett – Weingut Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken
The 2020 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Kabinett is a fruit-sweet Riesling from the VDP.GROSSE LAGE of the Saarburger Rausch. This finely fruity, juicy, and engaging Saar Riesling from the Weingut Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken estate is characterized by a lively interplay between fruit and acidity. In addition to local fruits such as apple, pear, and yellow peach, the Zilliken Rausch Riesling Kabinett entices with an exotic opulence of succulent ripe pineapple, passion fruit, and candied orange, a fine slate spiciness, and herbal notes of mint and lemon thyme. The long finish reveals the wine's concentration. On the palate, it feels weightless.
Zilliken Rausch Kabinett 2020 – a wine and its values
- 8.0% alcohol
- 60.6 g/l residual sugar
- 7.7 g/l acidity
- 91 points Mosel Fine Wines
With a moderate alcohol content of 8%, it is an ideal companion for light dishes with chicken or fish, sushi or scallops, or spicy Asian cuisine. Even though it is delightful when young, it only truly reveals its full potential after 5–10 years of bottle aging. Our cellar also holds older vintages of the Zilliken Rausch Riesling Kabinett that have already achieved this maturity.
Incidentally, our cellar is cooled in summer and heated in winter by a geothermal heat pump powered by a photovoltaic system, allowing the wine to mature optimally.
The 2011 Zilliken Rausch Riesling Kabinett was awarded 92 points by Gault Millau, and the 2017 vintage was awarded 93 points, with both being named the best Kabinett of the year!
2020 – the wine year on the Saar
The winter of 2019/2020 brought sufficient rainfall to replenish water reserves in the soil. During the sunny spring, the vines suffered neither from late frost nor hail damage. The good soil management and the cover cropping, which promotes a lively layer of humus, paid off in the hot summer. The soil provided the vines with enough moisture to absorb nutrients and develop acidity. As a result, the harvest could begin on September 21, 2020, earlier than ever before, and thanks to a harvest team that has been with us for many years and is intimately familiar with our vineyards, we were able to bring in ripe, healthy grapes. Following gentle pressing, the fermentation of the Riesling grapes in our old, well-maintained Fuder casks proceeded flawlessly. The young 2020 vintage shows itself to be accessible and inviting in our estate wine range. The village wines are rich in finesse and clearly show their differences. Wines from the Grosse Lagen (Grand Cru sites) possess outstanding aging potential and are precise, elegant, and profound, endowed with the typical lightness of the Saar.