Saarburger Rausch, Riesling, Auslese, 2014
An Auslese straight out of the treasure chamber, the 2009 is in a beautiful drinking spot. Typical smoky notes are emerging with lashings of pineapple, mango and rose petals, as it takes on a creamier feel on the palate. So easy to enjoy, long, haunting and classy. 2009 was a vintage which benefitted from good levels of noble botrytis.
critic reviews
Reflecting a selection of the most perfectly botrytis-inflected bunches from both young and old parcels, this delivers a drippingly luscious yet brightly refreshing meld of almond extract and honeysuckle-tinged honeydew melon and fresh lime. Hints of mint heighten a cooling and transparent impression that took me entirely by surprise given the impression leading up to it. Buoyant and silken-textured, this beauty – of which there are 4,000 liters – finishes with riveting sheer intensity and a shimmering sense of interplay among smoke and stone, melon and lime, inner-mouth florality and saliva-inducing salinity. “I picked these casks out for their having the highest acidity of any in the cellar,” explained Zilliken, “and then vinified a little differently to finish with less residual sugar than usual for an Auslese [for an Auslese of his, that is!] so that it leans more in an elegant Spätlese direction.”
In total, four fuders have been produced of the 2014 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese, which is a selection of partly shriveled berries. The wine starts pretty clear and flinty on the finely concentrated nose, where lemon peel and stony aromas are displayed. This digestible Auslese reveals a great finesse and mineral complexity with confit au citron flavors in the finish that has a lovely salinity.