Lobo Norma

Lobos Norma is the sister release to the superb Lobo Norman cider. The fabulous artwork on the bottle tells me this could be the big bad wolf from the south Australian orchards.  

Let’s talk about that artwork for a moment. It is an eye-catching funky granny wolf, carrying on the wolf theme across the Lobo range. What stands out about it most, is the design is, perhaps, screen printed onto the bottle. So, throw this bottle into the ice bucket and the label isn’t going to wash off. I wonder if this simplifies the recycling process not needing to remove a paper label?

Lobo has taken their favourite bittersweet apples from their Lenswood orchard. They have blended these cider apples with a few pink lady apples to freshen up the blend. Then the Lobo Norma is bottle fermented. The surprising thing here is that it’s not to cloudy for bottle fermented cider. Yes, it is hazy but not a tomato soup.

The Nose

Lobo’s latest cloudy cider, Norma, isn’t offing up a lot in the way big smells. The small amounts it’s giving out are quite fresh. Elements of freshly crushed mint leaves and a raw caster sugar linger in the glass waiting for an inquisitive nose.

The Taste

The Norma starts off to show off all those bittersweet apples in a dry riot of classic cider apples. The bittersweet have had their sweetness fermented off to create a 6.9% cider.

Late in the game are the finest amounts of a smooth biscuity base that comes from it being a bottle-fermented cider.

The fruit is bold with robust tannins. The pink lady’s without the sugar give it a clean mineral water backbone to cut through the tannins and clean finish

Final Thoughts on the Lobo Norma

This is the type of Cider that I like. It’s nice and dry but I wanted pure dryness I’d just drink soda water. What sets this apart is that bold tannin structure. At 6.9% coupled with the bold flavours makes it drinkable like a wine but with less hangover potential. The 4.1 standard drinks make it easy to split with someone special over a meal.

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