Weingut Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken

Dorothee Zilliken is the 11th generation of her family to preside here, at one of the most revered estates in the Saar. Established some 280 years ago by Dorothee’s ancestor, the king’s forest master (or forstmeister), Zilliken is synonymous with the Rausch vineyard; south-facing, with weathered grey slate and, distinctively, diabase.

On our most recent visit to the winery, over an exquisite lunch of roast venison with pumpkin purée, Dorothee and her father Hanno explained that they ferment everything in fuder rather than stainless steel because it helps integrate the wines’ innately high acidity, and subjects them to micro-oxygenation, increasing their potential for long-term ageing. To prove the point, lunch was accompanied a 2009 Rausch Auslese that was but a baby.