Rooted in Berlin’s natural wine and gastronomy scene, Marius Glaser and Louise Janicki decided to deepen their love of quality produce with the creation of fruit wine. For those familiar with the city, Marius recently finished his role as a chef at Neukölln restaurant Ezsra, while Louise works in service at natural wine bar and bistro Jaja. Before working as a chef Marius studied biology in Copenhagen, focussing on fermentation and researching the yeasts used to make cider, alongside experimenting with Japanese ferments. Louise studied interior design, going on to work in specialty coffee and venturing to wineries across Rheinhessen, Sicily and Sweden. With little to choose from in northern Germany in terms of grapes, Marius and Louise decided to work with fruit sourced from the Schaalsee region, a UNESCO biosphere reserve that lies close to Hamburg. Some of this fruit comes from unused trees in Kneese, a small village with around 350 inhabitants. Years ago, pear trees were planted along the roadsides here for the locals to harvest but, with many having their own trees, this fruit is quite literally left by the wayside, happily collected by Marius and Louise. They harvest other fruit from orchards belonging to the local Mosterei, a juice and cider manufacturer, and the rest comes from private individuals. The Mosterei is very much the centre of their fruit wine creation; the place where everything happens from harvest, to pressing, to bottling. Frwine takes its name from fruit wine and stems from a conversation around commercial cider which contains huge amounts of water, sugar and unfermented juice, and is carbonated at bottling. It’s a topic which crops up internationally and persistently among those passionate about natural cidermaking, opposed to the cavalier attitude of commercial cider manufacturers when it comes to juice content and additives.
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.