2003 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese

[Karen Goetz]

8.5% alcohol... Color very pale gold with greenish glints; bright.
Bouquet is pretty and fragrant out of the bottle as I open it; citrus-peachy-yellow floral notes and some red cherry fruit (!) with a lot of stony minerality; very fresh and crisp but not chiseled aromas because the fruit is ripe; red rhubarb notes, finally. Tastes of ripe, cool yellow fruits and pink citrus; minerals underlying the fruit in a very fine, almost soft lattice (white); red and yellow citrus at the back of my mouth after swallowing the wine;the course of the taste is a slow curve of ripe yellow fruit and then a fine wave of minerality & yellow citrus/pink guavas/smidgen of rhubarb. Lovely wine.

 

[John M]

Thanks for this great note. I went short on 2003 but time and again I see evidence that it is a better vintage than I thought at the time.

 

[Jayson Cohen]

Sounds delicious.

 

[Robert Dentice]

Sounds lovely. And yes 2003 has turned out far better than I would have expected.

 

[Rahsaan]

Alas, we were all so much younger at the time! Little did we know that 2003 would not be such a wine aberration going forward.

I wonder if the shock was especially pronounced for German wine, coming off such a gloriously thrilling and vibrant 2001 vintage, and then 2002.

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Sounds delicious.

2003 schaefer auction domprobst spatlese was lip-smacking delightful a year ago, with plenty of lift. Just wish I could tell it apart from other fuder from the same vineyard.

 

[Odd Rydland]

I had the 2005 of the Zilliken Spætlese on Saturday. Really delicious, but still some sucrosity and will benefit from another 5-10 years. 8% on the label.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

originally posted by John M:
Thanks for this great note. I went short on 2003 but time and again I see evidence that it is a better vintage than I thought at the time.

I bought a fair wallop of 2003 JJ Christoffel at release, because of favorable pricing, and it has been ridiculously good the last few years. I drank all my Kabinetts too early, sadly, thinking they would always be sweet and soft. But the apprehension of even more sweetness encouraged me to hold off drinking the SLs and ALs until recently, and this has paid dividends.

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:

originally posted by John M:
Thanks for this great note. I went short on 2003 but time and again I see evidence that it is a better vintage than I thought at the time.

I bought a fair wallop of 2003 JJ Christoffel at release, because of favorable pricing, and it has been ridiculously good the last few years. I drank all my Kabinetts too early, sadly, thinking they would always be sweet and soft. But the apprehension of even more sweetness encouraged me to hold off drinking the SLs and ALs until recently, and this has paid dividends.

Interesting. Did not buy a single 2003, but I also liked the wines a lot less after Robert Eymael took over. The style change was quite marked.

 

[Pavel Tchichikov]

originally posted by mark e:
Interesting. Did not buy a single 2003, but I also liked the wines a lot less after Robert Eymael took over. The style change was quite marked.

given how breathtaking some of the wines from the 90s are, there was only one direction this was going to head, so that's not saying much :)