Cantillon Vin Santo
Description
Cantillon Vin Santo is a lambic using Italian wine grapes. Sometimes known as Vino Santo, this Italian wine style is known for being a sweet dessert wine where it is traditionally served in Tuscany. It is made with the pommace of Trebbiano grapes macerated in 12- and 24-month old lambic. The first batch was served during the Arrogant Sour Fest in Reggio Emilia, Italy in 2018. A second batch was also served at the same festival in 2019.
History / Other Notes
Cantillon Vin Santo was inspired by the ideas of Michele Galati who owns The Dom and Abbazia de Sherwood in Italy. The Vin Santo grapes come from Contini Bonacossi and were dried and oxidised before being shipped to Cantillon for blending. Noticing how aromatic the grapes were when compared to other varietals, Jean opted to blend them with a 3-year old lambic that was sharper and more acidic than the usual 2-year old lambic that is generally blended with grapes. The barrel was filled for 2.5 months during which the barrel had to be refilled 3-4 times due to the absorption rate of the dried grapes. Then the barrel was emptied only 160 liters of lambic remained out of the initial 400 that went in. The beer was then bottled in March of 2018. A total of 120 bottles were produced and approximately 10 were opened at the Arrogant Sour Fest in 2018. This is known to be Cantillon's second only experiment with dried grapes, the first being Cantillon Reed Gueuze Muscat
Label
Photos
Batch 1 of Vin Santo served at the brewery, March 2019
