Have you ever heard a cider from Luxembourg? No? You have now. Ramborn is Luxembourg’s leading/only craft cider label. They have recently launched with 3 ciders so over the next few weeks I’m going to review them. Today I’m starting with the Ramborn Farmhouse Dry Cider.

Lets set the scene about cider in this tiny landlocked country. Nestled away between Belgium, France and Germany.  The drinking culture is heavily influenced by their nearest neighbors. Beer drinkers choose Belgium style beers. Wine drinkers look to France to fill their glasses. Germany provides the most interesting influence when it comes to cider as cross the German border is where Apfelwein comes from.

Luxembourg shares the same climate as the apple growing region of Germany while sitting in between the latitude of Normandy, France and Somerset England. So it should be able to grow a decent bit of fruit. Sadly the country’s apple production has fallen off a cliff, dropping 50% since 1990. This has left many orchards neglected. The saddest part about this is the types of apples that are being lost as many of them are indigenous to the region. Including the Rambo apple which lends its name to the company, Rambo the apple and Born the name of the town create Ramborn cider. The Rambo Apple makes up about 70% of the juice in the Ramborn Farmhouse Cider

Ramborn Farmhouse Dry CiderRamborn is on a mission to help save these orchards by providing a market for the apples. They have been uncovering abandoned orchards all over the country and working with the farmers make them viable again. The thing to remember here is that cider has been made here since Roman times which gives plenty of time for unique apple varieties to get established. The Romans called the cider here Viez or Second Wine. The first wine was made from grapes.

 

The Nose

Lively fresh apple mixed with a good hit of sharp apples. A few red berries sneak in as well.

The Taste

An interest mix of astringency and acids both of which are very prominent in such a dry cider. The apples taste incredibly fresh which is delightfully unexpected. A tannin profile like this is normally seen in older mustier ciders so the freshness is a big plus. The Ramborn Farmhouse has basically no sweetness left in it but that is ok. The red berry sweetness I smelt earlier come through in the taste in the form of a cherry, strawberry and red apple skin. Soft bubbles off set the acids with some nice interplay.

A clean but tart finish to finish off a pretty interesting little cider.

Final Thoughts On Ramborn Farmhouse Dry Cider

On first sip I was pretty surprised by the combination of the high tannins and acids. Normally it’s one or the other.

The Ramborn Farmhouse doesn’t need to be served too cold, instead sip it slowly and allow it to warm and develop its flavours. Some soft cheeses would be a good matching.

If this is made primary of the Rambo  apple, I’m going to have to find out a little bit more about it. It seems to be doing a good job. I’m looking forward to trying more ciders using the Rambo by Ramborn.

Product Farmhouse Dry Cider
Company Ramborn
Sweetness  Dry
alc./vol 7%
Website Ramborn.com
Country of Origin Luxembourg
Region Born

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