Mostly picked in the third week of October, the "regular" 2018 Rausch Auslese (AP 10) offers an intensely aromatic but coolish, fine and precise bouquet with flinty lemon notes intertwined with broken slate aromas and even smoke. On the palate, this is a lush, generous, beautifully precise and succulent yet crystalline Riesling with tropical fruit flavors and discreet but beautiful bitters thanks to some new fuders. A total of 9.5 fuders were made. Tasted in June 2019.

After two difficult years with tiny yields, 2018 is a generous vintage for Geltz-Zilliken in terms of quality and quantity. "I have never seen so many filled vats in our cellar," delights Dorothee Zilliken. The family had extended the vineyard acreage by three hectares to now 14 hectares of vines, mainly due to new cultivation contracts in Ayl, Wiltingen and Niedermennig. The added vineyards  increase the volume of the significant Estate Riesling, and 11 hectares are located in the Saarburger Rausch "Grosse Lage." The grapes of the Ayler Kupp were so good that Hanno and Dorothee Zilliken used them to produce a Grosses Gewächs (GG) here. The Kupp, from a leased 0.5-hectare plot inside the original Kupp that also includes the Scheidterberg, is not the only new wine for the Forstmeister, though. For the first time—and due to exceptional qualities and quantities—the Zillikens also selected a first GG from the Ockfener Bockstein, a cru that had exclusively been a source for Zilliken's sweet predicate wines so far. Even a fourth grand cru—the Saarburg Auf der Rausch GG monopole—is in the making but will be released only at the end of 2020 after an extended aging on the lees.

Zilliken's 2018 were picked between September 23 and October 10, and the dry wines come in with no more than 12% alcohol. The dry Rieslings as well as the feinherb Diabas are exclusively based on the free-run must and the first fraction of the pressing since it had a higher acidity level than the part that ran from the press later. "We did that already in 2009 and always do so for our base wines that will undergo the second fermentation to become sparkling wine," explains Hanno Zilliken and also stresses that no tartaric acid had been added in any of the wines, although this had been allowed.

The Butterfly, the GGs and the partly exceptional Auslesen are the most important wines of the 2018 vintage at Zilliken, but there was no suitable material to produce the Kabinett style. And there was no botrytis, not even for the produced Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese that are based on healthy shriveled berries and offer brilliant tropical fruit flavors in 2018.

All the wines were fermented at naturally cool cellar temperatures of 10 degrees Celsius (50 degree Fahrenheit). The results are perfectly ripe and elegant as well as fascinatingly precise, mineral-piquant and gripping Rieslings with many features of a cool vintage (such as stony and herbal notes), although the ripeness level is enormous.

Comparisons with such an exceptional Saar vintage as 2018 are always difficult. Like so many of his colleagues, Hanno Zilliken names the 1959 vintage, which was also an early vintage but very different from 2018. There are also some parallels to 2003 and 2011, even with the generosity and richness of 2005 and the tropical flavors of 1997, but in the end, 2018 is a unique vintage that will shine for decades. This is especially true when it comes to the Auslesen, of which the Zillikens have produced quite a few outstanding selections. After some difficult vintages, 2018 marks a fulminant comeback of Geltz-Zilliken.

„Fresh and racy, with powerful acidity cutting through the ripe flavors of persimmon, guava and blood orange. Very elegant, but intense and focused, showing lovely integration of the elements. Offers a mineral-infused aftertaste. Best from 2021 through 2036. 250 cases made“

„Pretty loquat and mirabelle-plum notes here, along with honeysuckle and Williams pears. A very finely structured palate follows, composed of bright streaks of acidity and lightly textured pastry sheets. It’s sweet, but not noticeably so, and it ambles along with real elegance. Drink now.“

„Ironically, given how tropical and dominantly sweet is this year’s Rausch Spätlese A.P. #11, this Auslese introduces somewhat more northerly fruit character – Rainier cherry and apple – to the mango and pineapple familiar from the Spätlese. What’s more, while it’s lushly fruited and glycerol-rich, it conveys a greater sense of delicacy, more sheer juiciness and enhanced animation, as well as mouthwatering salinity to complement the soothing and sweet sides of a lusciously lingering finish.“

„Amazing that such a giant of a man makes wines like these. Carved from sugared peaches and rose petals, lime bones and delicate honeyed sweetness. A fine, almost earthy spiciness runs like filigree lace over the top and through the wine. Embryonic, needs substantially more time.“

„Complexity abounds in this ethereally light yet electrifying Auslese. Hints of pollen, saffron and earth accent pristine lemon and lime on the palate. It's a wine that reveals subtly and will require time both in the cellar and glass to unleash fully. Hold till 2022; it should reward for decades further.“

„Feine Würze, getrocknete Früchte: Aprikose, Birne, Mandarine, Rosinen. Edel und mineralisch. Am Gaumen sehr dicht, cremig, Säure und Süße in der Balance, viel Frucht, dazu Mandel und Honig, mineralisch, tolle Länge. Viel Kraft, delikat, klare Frucht.“

Auszeichnungen für Weingut und Winzer

Gault&Millau 2019: 5 Trauben - Weltklasse
Eichelmann 2019: 4 Sterne - Hervorragender Erzeuger
Winzer des Jahres 2017 im Gault&Millau