Geltz Zilliken Rausch Kabinett 2023

Weingut Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken is a small family estate in the Saar, the cool side valley of the Mosel in Germany, with more than 270 years of history. This Kabinett comes from the Rausch vineyard at Saarburg, a steep slope of grey Devonian slate. The dark slate stores warmth through the day and releases it at night, which matters in a marginal northern climate where Riesling ripens slowly and holds high natural acidity. That long, cool ripening is the source of the wine's tension. Fruit is fermented in the cellar in the traditional manner, in old wooden casks with the vineyard's own native yeasts and little intervention. Fermentation is allowed to stop with residual sugar intact, leaving an off-dry wine of around 8 percent alcohol, low because much of the grape sugar is retained rather than converted. The colour is pale with a green tint. The nose shows green apple, white peach, lemon and a wet-slate mineral note. The palate is light and sweet but cut by sharp Saar acidity, finishing clean and stony. Serve cold at 8 degrees.