Winemaker Notes
This medium-dry wine captures the ethereal "floats like a butterfly" character of Zilliken Rieslings at an entry-level price. Bright and juicy, with moderate alcohol, this butterfly soars high on citrus and floral wings. Playful, tangy flavors of lime and granny smith apple are heightened with refreshing accents of lemon balm, with a zesty, zippy finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A beautiful, barely off-dry riesling for the kind of delicious, everyday drinking so many people are looking for. Tons of fresh herbs, a cascade of citrus and tart stone fruit, then a long, crisp, mint and mineral finish. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bottled with 11% alcohol and an unknown but rather moderate amount of unfermented sugar, the off-dry 2019 Riesling Butterfly offers a refreshingly pure, fine and slatey Riesling bouquet that is immediately attractive. Fruity, charmingly round and juicy on the palate, it is irresistible due to its grip, mouth-watering piquancy, finesse and salinity. Possibly one of the finest Butterfly bottlings I have tasted so far.
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Tasting Panel
Luscious with peach and citrus yet fresh and clean; silky, balanced, and long.
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Wine Enthusiast
Just a whisper of sweetness accents plump white grapefruit and lime flavors in this almost-dry, lusciously textured Riesling. A blossomy, perfumed white held upright by brisk acidity and a long, stony finish, it’s at peak now–2024.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Zilliken Butterfly Riesling drinks smooth and easy. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows ripe apple and pleasant floral notes. Enjoy it as an aperitif or with breaded, deep-fried prawns. (Tasted: August 22, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.