2018 Saarburger Rausch GG

The Zillikens have registered the cadaster designation “Auf der Rausch,” and what a revelatory wine with which to initiate its use! The 2018 Riesling Saarburger Auf der Rausch Grosses Gewächs is a brilliant exhibit of what Grosses Gewächs could be for the Saar: a dry Riesling of regionally distinctive animation, alcoholic levity, and transparency to mineral nuance – indeed, one that could pass for Kabinett trocken if that category were permitted under VDP regulations, and provided oenophiles were willing to pay the appropriately high price for a wine so designated. (Scant years ago, as in some parts of VDP-land still today, a wine of just 11% alcohol would have been rejected as too lightweight to merit the designation “Grosses Gewächs.”) Subtly peachy and limey, coolingly green-herb-infused and seemingly mineral-saturated yet practically weightlessly buoyant, this beauty is kaleidoscopically complex, with mouth-shaking vibrancy that persists into a finish whose tang and salinity tugs at the salivary glands. And bear in mind the sort of vintage that 2018 was: generally challenging when not downright inimical to wines of delicacy! The intention is to render an Auf der Rausch Grosses Gewächs only in years when it will represent something highly distinctive and special – though I don’t think it would be fair to hold the Zillikens to quite the standards exhibited by this inaugural edition! In 2019 and 2020, as likely also in 2021, there will be no such bottling.