Producer
Zilliken
The Zilliken estate is situated on the Saar, a tributary of the Mosel and one of Germany’s coolest wine regions. Zilliken can trace its winemaking history back to 1742. The original cellar was destroyed in a heavy bombing raid in 1944 but the family acquired a new cellar on Heckingstrasse in 1950, which has remained the beating heart of the winery ever since. Today, it is in the capable hands of eleventh generation, Dorothee Zilliken.
Their most prestigious holdings are located in the Saarburger Rausch but they also have a hectare in Ockfen Bockstein. The sole focus here is on Riesling and yields are strictly controlled to 50hl/ha. The winemaking policy is simple: cool, slow fermentations in 60–70-year-old untoasted German oak Fuder in the deepest, coolest and darkest cellars in all the Saar, three stories below ground. Graceful and seemingly weightless, these are some of the most mesmerising Rieslings in all the Mosel.