Cantillon Vigneronne

Bottle, at Den Tatoverede Enke, Copenhagen. Incredibly intense farmhouse aroma combined with an equally intense sour fruitiness. Intensely sour gueuze flavour, lemony as hell. Funky and lemony aftertaste.

Marcello’s Wine Market, Baton Rouge, La. - 1 pt 9.4 oz bottle. Pours a murky light orange with a quickly dissipating white head. Sweaty aroma, perhaps this is "horse blanket" not sure - but it does have a barnyard quality to it - odd - but not unpleasant. Flavor sets a new standard for sour. 10 out of 10 on the pucker scale. Some sour grape notes in there. Very earthy and unpolished. Reminds one of drinking grapefruit juice after brushing your teeth. Which is nice in a lambic - if you are expecting it. Dry mouthfeel, but the finish is just a bit off - slighlty sulphuric.

Bottled
Hazy yellow, no head. Sour, leather aroma. Sour, fruity with grape flavor. Some notes of oak and earth. Delicious Cantillon.

Bottle 1999 vintage poured a clear gold with a white head. Aromas of funky, sour and acidic with a hint of grapes.Mouthfeel is very crisp. Flavor was tart and sour [of course] with some vinous notes, and some grape showing up in the finish.

07.29.05 750ml bottle. I don’t know if this was a bad bottle; I just can’t tell sometimes when I’m trying a new Cantillon. The pour is murky gold with a crazed foam fading quick but leaving a sticky lace. Aroma is an almost overwhelming blast of sour milk, sulfur, wet leather, horrible cheese. Above all that is a positively out of place and grossly overdone blanket of bad chablis drenched in butter. Luckily most of the buttery assault seems to get left at the door. Flavor is mild enough, sweetish for a Cantillon, fruity, not maddeningly sour as it’s toned down by the fruit. There’s plenty of funk and cheese, some leather, grapeskin astringency. The smell of this stuff was just too much for me to handle.

(Bottle 75 cl) Beautiful, hazy orangey golden with a surprising head which collapses rather fast though. Also a surprising fizzyness. Typical refined gueuze flavours without many traces of the Moscatel-grapes. Oh, did I forget to mention, that this is very dry and extremely sour? Well, it’s a Cantillon goddammit... 270601

Under the name of Cuvée des 9 Nations, a 1991 bottle that Joris gave to Martin who generously shared. Huge pop upon opening, pale amber with deepened orange reflects. Initially well laced off-white head that quickly turns into a film. Plenty of sediments all around. Funky basement, dusty nose with the firm impression that nothing dominates the balance. Funky hay notes, cheesy lactic nature, fingertoes, orange, pears, grapes, brett.. Yummy. The white grapes come out with more stealth in mouth, they are everywhere and integrated like old mates, certainly resistant to time this one. Medium rounded body with well kept carbonation, puckeringly dry and tart though not astringent. Surprisingly thick at this stage of aging. Lactic lemon and lactic acids. Excellent.

375mL bottle, cork dated 1999. Golden/yellow color with just the slightest haze. Small white head and not much lacing. The aroma is of course, funky and sour with some peppery notes. Can’t really distinguish the Muscat grapes but there is a winey/fruity character. The sourness is acetic but there is also some brettanomyces, probably some others blending in as well. There is some sweetness to balance. Great beer!