Luxembourg gained its first cider company in 2015. The pocket-sized country is mostly bordered by the historical cider-loving countries of Germany and France, so fermenting juice from centenarian orchards seemed only logical to the team at Ramborn Cider Co. The cider farm — originally built in 1867 — is located in the village of Born, where a shop/visitor center offers tastings of the selections and opens the gates for guests to wander into these orchards that host more than 100 different apple and pear varieties, many nearly forgotten and revived in 2016 with additional plantings.
The Ramborn Perry is made with pears from these old orchards, and others in the surrounding area, created as part of the company’s commitment to protect and restore the distinctive fruit varieties of the region. Traditional pears with names like Mostbirne and Nelchesbirne are picked and pressed to ferment into this medium-bodied and deeply textured perry.
Aromatics furnish the glass with notes of white grapes, fruity esters, canned pears, dusty pear skin and bready yeast, but the curiosity comes from how the perry sits in your mouth — with a full, firm yet sunny embrace. The pear fruit is golden-ripe and robust on the semi-sweet palate, splashed with simple acidity and gilded with tannins that hug like an old friend; long and emphatic. A unique example of what the pear can do and how voluptuous it can be.