Bottle. 20/21 vintage. Murky yellow pour with a white head. Light vinous bouquet. Mildly sour with light apricot and orange backbeats. The grape and natural process of the wine making (evident in Campania Greco) really shine through. Interesting. I dig it. Good body and mouthfeel.

At Zum Franziskaner. (sold as Sophia Lambic 2020) Hazy golden with a small head. Grapes, oak and funk. Dy finish.

Bottle shared at BMT - for Zwanze. Pours lightly hazed yellow. Lightly sweet, low acidity, some pine needles, white grape, a little grass, apple. Medium bodied with delicate carbonation. Balanced finish, a little pear, apple, pale wood, low bitterness, low acidity. Tasty one.

(Bottle, 0.75 l - bottled on 03.12.2020, a sample, at Pien Brewpub, 20210819) The beer poured pale golden and lightly hazy. Its head was medium sized and white. Aroma had wood, tartness, grapes and lightly stomach acids. Palate was medium bodied and dry with medium carbonation. Flavours were grapes, tartness, wood, vanilla, sourness, grapefruit and bitterness. Aftertaste was dry, tart and bitter. A delicious brew that brought the lambic and wine notes together.

As Cantillon Lambic Sophia. The second ‘expression’ of the grape lambic made in collaboration with Cantina Giardino, an Italian vintager that interestingly still works with clay amphoras instead of wooden barrels – a viticultural technique which historically long precedes the Gallic invention and generalisation of wooden barrels. From tap at Moeder Lambic Fontainas during Zwanze Day. Regularly shaped, medium thick, creamy, eggshell-white head, hazy yellow blonde robe with vague lime-greenish tinge. Aroma of southernwood (quite specifically), candied lemon, sweet white grapes, strong unripe pineapple, rhubarb, fresh basil leaves, lime zest, dry clay. Crisp, fruity onset, lots of the raw (and harsh) pineapple effect mingled with softening sweet white grape and ripe gooseberry impressions, lime-like sourness all the way through, fizzy carb, supple body; lovely sour apple, green gooseberry and white unsugared yoghurt tartness dries the mouth but provides crispness and complexity as well, ending with a touch of grape seed astringency and some yeasty funkiness alongside a subtle return of the southernwood-like aspect. The clay effect stays largely buried under all these flavours, but the nose on this one was distinct and ‘special’ enough to remain memorable among Cantillon’s large and long-time output of original lambics.