Since leaving Basel at the end of April, my wife and I have been reacclimatising ourselves to everyday UK life. Although we are feeling much more settled five months on, we have no idea what awaits us in the next year or so, let alone the next five years.

Yet whatever happens in the meantime, I can always content myself with ordering the wines from my old hunting ground every so often. A sizeable proportion of my most recent order consisted of Gutedels from Markgräflerland. This was the stand-out bottle:

Felix Scherer & Micha Zimmer, Gutedel ‘spontan’ trocken 2015, Baden
Spontaneously fermented (from the grapes’ own yeasts) in used Burgundian pièces. Bright light yellow with an ever-so-slight reddish hue. Biscuity on the nose, with hints of peanut as well as well-integrated wood. Savoury and yeasty in the mouth. A refreshing lime-like tingle of acidity washes over my palate – unusually so for a Gutedel. Quite concentrated in what is ostensibly a light to medium body. Little fruit to speak of. In my mind’s eye I can visualise crushed dry white stone. The acidity returns to lend elegance on the finish. Made in much the same idiom as Ziereisen’s Steingrüble, I would say. Even the price (12 euros) is quite similar. Like Steingrüble, this represents classic ‘old school’ Gutedel. A very worthwhile handcrafted wine.