2011 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Zilliken considers his 7.5% alcohol 2011 Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese A.P. #3 -an example of all the concentration of sugar and flavor that healthy Riesling grapes can assimilate before the berries- skins become attenuated and they begin to shrivel.- Scents and luscious juiciness of apple, mango, Persian melon and pink grapefruit place this with one foot in the tropics and the other in northerly climes. Suggestions of nut pastes pull in a confectionary direction while wet stone and green herbal essences add metaphorical cooling influence on a palate of utmost delicacy and levity, both subtly creamy and persistently refreshing. The generous 8,000 liters of this strikingly pure and buoyant exercise in residually sweet Riesling should be worth following through at least 2035 and are apt to reveal yet further nuanced complexity along the way. - David Schildknecht, Okt. 2013