Cantillon Sophia Lambic
Description
Cantillon Sophia Lambic is a lambic macerated with the pommace of Greco di Tufo grapes that had previously been aged in amphorae coming from Cantina Giardino in Italy. It is listed as 6.5% ABV and is bottled in 75cl bottles.
History / Other Notes
Early bottlings and experiments with Cantina Giardino's Greco di Tufo grape pommace were often labeled simply as "Giardino" or "Cantina Giardino" and labeled with the standard yellow Cantillon label. These bottles were mostly handbottled at the brewery and sent out for serving at festivals in Italy before officially being christened Sophia lambic and before being given a proper label.
In April of 2018, Cantillon noted the following for the first "official" batch: "The Greco di Tufo we received comes from a six-month long pellicular maceration (the skin of the grapes stays in contact with the liquid rather than being removed) in an amphora. The grapes are then pressed to fully extract their liquid - and we are lucky enough to receive the dry residue, which has now been added to barrels and topped with a blend of 2 and 3 year old lambics here at the brewery. We’ve called the beer Sophia Lambic to pay homage to the wine originally produced by our friends."