The wines are based around a search for harmony, often achieved through the blending of different grapes — Laurent describes the process of assemblage as similar to music making and mixing, and Version is a wonderful example of this process. All of Recerca’s white and red varieties are gathered together, crushed in whole bunches and macerated for 4 days before aging in fibreglass for 8 months. Well-balanced and with a delightful softness, this maceration makes for a serious light red. Sour cherries and thyme on the nose with low tannins, medium body and more colour than the ’22 vintage, it goes well with beetroot, rocket and freshly ground black pepper. If you’re into Ploussard from Jura, this one’s for you.

Apfel-Birne is exactly what it says it is: apples and pears, crushed together before being pressed on a belt press. There is a huge mix of varieties within this; each of the trees in the village is different and some of the fruit remains unidentified. Those that can be named are fresh and acidic apples, Gravenstein, Holsteiner Cox and Boskoop, met with the juice and aroma of Alexander Lucas pears, a large, yellow-green variety grown mainly in Germany. Frwine is a new project that we’re excited to see more from but, for now, look out for a second blend, made at the same time as this one, entirely from quince.

Schieferblume ’23, which translates as Slate Flower, is made with grapes from two vineyards: Hubertuslay, a steep vineyard on the opposite riverbank to the winery in Kinheim, and Langfuhr, a cool climate plot in Kindel between woodland and meadows. One of the Trossen’s older and more classic wines, Schieferblume has a little sulfur at bottling and, unlike the other wines we have featured to date, is lightly filtered. For this wine we’ve made an exception, given its quality and the desire to share a Trossen bottle with you but, for zero-zero enthusiasts, be sure to check out the Purus line, begun in 2010.