Splendia Fragolino

Last week we met with Mario and this week I tried a friend of his. Neither a wine or a cocktail this lady is a hybrid of both. The Splendia Fragolino is ideal to be served chilled as an aperitif, with desserts, as well as in cocktails or simply on its own. I have a soft spot in my heart for dessert wines and fruity cocktails so I was excited to try this.

A beautiful strawberry colour that's a little lighter out of the bottle then in. Whilst I knew this was going to be quite sweet, the smell was a lot more candy like then I would have thought it to be. It definitely had a strawberry hint to it but again more like candy then fresh fruit. Sadly there wasn't a lot of wine characteristics, they got lost in the sweetness, but again I shouldn't be surprised as the wine is acting as a base in this instance. Taste wise it was a little like drinking strawberry cough medicine and while I have a sweet tooth, this was just a little too much for me. Adding some mineral water helped toned it down and bring more of the real strawberry flavour to life but there was still a slight hint of that cough medicine taste. I think that adding this into a cocktail would be the best way to enjoy it. Unfortunately I don't have a personal bar at home so I wasn't able to mix up a few concoctions to find the best one but I think adding some sour elements such as passionfruit pulp, soda water or lime juice would balance out the over bearing sweetness.

I am a little sad that I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped I would have. I do think they make a great product and as taste is so subjective, that while I might not enjoy this, others would absolutely love it.