Forester Geltz-Zilliken

The Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Winery in Saarburg

The Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Winery in Saarburg on the River Saar looks back on a family tradition stretching back over 270 years, which is documented as far back as 1742. The foundation for its present-day renown was laid by the Royal Prussian Forest Master Ferdinand Geltz (1851–1925), who not only gave his name to the estate but was also, in 1908, one of the founding members of the ‘Association of Natural Wine Auctioneers – Großer Ring’, from which today’s VDP (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates) emerged. Following the destruction of the estate during the Second World War, Marianne Zilliken continued the winegrowing business, and after her marriage to Fritz Zilliken in 1947, the winery eventually adopted the name it still bears today: ‘Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken’.

Today, the renowned VDP estate is run by the eleventh generation of the family, Dorothee Zilliken, supported by her husband Philipp and her parents Ruth and Hanno Zilliken. The estate’s philosophy is clear: The finest wines can only be produced from the finest vineyards if the full potential of the grapes is realised. This is achieved across a vineyard area of around eleven hectares, spread across the VDP ‘Große Lagen’ sites of Saarburger Rausch and Ockfener Bockstein. These steep, exclusively south-facing slopes are 100 per cent planted with Riesling – a grape variety to which the estate is deeply committed. The soils, characterised by Devonian slate and diabase, lend the wines their distinctive Saar minerality .

In the vaulted cellar, situated deep beneath the manor house and extending up to nine metres into the rock , with its stalactite-like formations , conditions are ideal . At a constant 11 degrees Celsius and with humidity of up to 95 per cent, the Rieslings mature exclusively in traditional 1,000-litre Mosel barrels . This gentle, slow fermentation is the secret behind the elegant, delicate and expressive wines. The range extends from delicately off-dry entry-level wines such as the ‘Butterfly’ through to powerful dry single-vineyard wines and world-famous noble sweet Spätlese and Auslese wines, which have catapulted the winery to the very top of Saar Rieslings . The patience shown during the winemaking process is reflected not least in the range of carefully matured old vintages that the winery regularly presents from its treasure trove.