Riesling Revival

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Although much has changed for the better, Germany still suffers from both consumer confusion and the occasional vapid bottle. The likes of Zilliken’s Butterfly will go a long way to clearing up both. Like most high-quality producers in the riesling stronghold along the Saar, Mosel and Ruwer river valleys, Zilliken grows his grapes in steep riverside vineyards piled deep with gravel and rock. Along with British Columbia’s Okanagan, this is the most northerly wine region on the planet so the site is crucial: The river reflects precious warmth and sunlight onto the south-facing slopes, even as thin soil and dry summers force each vine to concentrate its resources on only a few bunches of grapes.

After the Butterfly, Zilliken moves on to his 2005 kabinett, spätlese and ausleses, categorizations that reflect ripeness and grape-must weight and indirectly indicate the level of sweetness. Indeed, with 160 grams of residual sugar, the long gold kap auslese registers a startling 16 on the familiar sweetness scale. Yet it so well balanced with acid and minerality – and so full of fruit and flowers on the nose and palate – that eyes widen and glances are exchanged around the table.

Meanwhile, Zilliken has once again descended deep into the cellars that burrow three storeys below the house. Every winery in the region seems to have a signature cellar, some with locked stores of pre-20th-century bottles, others with vestigial reminders of riesling’s first big boom back in Roman times, but this is one of the most unusual, with 100-percent humidity on the lowest level due to a nearby aquifer. I feel like I’m wading through the atmosphere in rooms where stalactites drip from the ceiling and a curious and oddly charming mould attempts to cover all available surfaces.

At every stop in these valleys the 2005 rieslings have been excellent, but whether due to some mystical quality in the cellar or more practical factors, Zilliken’s are transcendent. The half bottle of botrytis-affected (that is, sweetened by natural concentration produced by the “noble rot”) beerenauslese he’s returned with this time is like nothing I’ve ever tasted. A couple of months earlier, American expert John Gilman, in his View From The Cellar newsletter, described it as “ma-jestic,” “blazing,” “magical” and finally, after none of those adjectives seemed quite up to the job, “life-altering.” He awarded it a mere 99+ points, hedging his bets on whether the dessert wine would ascend to mythic 100-point status.

Even for a semi-nut, $130 for a half bottle of Zilliken’s beerenauslese is suddenly beginning to look like an irresistible bargain, and once more into the cellar he goes to retrieve my prize. When some day I drink it (after carefully sniffing the cork and swirling the stemware), Songs In The Key Of Life will be playing on the stereo. Now that riesling’s back, it’s time to give Stevie another listen. 

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