Pilton Labyrinth Daedalus blend 2024

Labyrinth Daedalus blend cider by Pilton made in 2024 is a bone dry, intense farmhouse cider with high tannins and a curious poached apple and spice character.

Labyrinth Daedalus at glance

  • Region: Somerset, England
  • Alcohol: 6.5%
  • Style: dry, still, Western Counties
  • Vintage: 2024
  • Apple varieties: undisclosed blend of cider apples
Pilton Labyrinth Daedalus 2024 in a glass

Tasting Notes

  • See: beautiful hazy amber colour with tones of orange
  • Nose: poached apples, intense caramel, inviting sweetness with vanilla hints.
  • Taste: dry, high tannins and low acidity; a full body, rich still cider, astringent but with intense caramel notes and a touch of bitterness to the aftertaste

Notes from the producers

The second of this series, the Daedalus blend is built around smooth one year matured traditional orchard blend, which delivers gentle tannins and confident maturity. To this we have layered in mature Tremlett’s Bitter to bring robust astringency. The blend is completed with just enough natural apple sweetness from our classic orchard blend keeved cider.

Unfiltered, undiluted, cloudy, still, no sugar or artificial sweetener. Pilton website here.

Personal Notes on Pilton Labyrinth Daedalus

When you sniff Labyrinth Daedalus for the first time you cannot help but be overwhelmed with the scent of alluring caramel. 

In the mouth Labyrinth is bone dry, with buckets of tannins making themselves quite apparent on your gums, and a gentle bitter aftertaste that is perfectly balanced by loads of caramel flavour.

The long, poached apple scented finish leaves your gums gently cuddled by tannins, along with the feeling of having eaten a very sweet pudding–minus all the calories of course.

Pilton Labyrinth Daedalus 2024 cider colour close up

Pilton’s Labyrinth cider, as in previous years, is a blend of many cider apples from Somerset. While in 2023 Pilton produced a Labyrinth blend which resulted in a more fruit forward drink, the 2024 blend  is a complex, rich, tannic and intensely caramelly dry cider. 

But don’t be fooled: the high level of tannins don’t make it difficult to drink – quite the opposite. The combination of sweet elements and tannins makes it yummy and irresistible, almost like salted caramel chocolate – but without the sickening sweetness.

Food pairing

This is a rich, wonderfully tannic cider, that could go great with a glazed pork chops, or perhaps pork and apple sausages. The high level of tannins makes it a perfect match with fatty and rich-in-flavour dishes – especially meat – whilst the strong caramel notes compliment sweet sauces, which are generally hard to pair.