Lothlorien Feijoa Wine - Dry product reviews

Wine in this house a nice treat so when these came up for review I knew I just HAD to request a bottle of wine, even more so because my husband and I LOVE LOVE LOVE feijoa, so I hoped this wine would taste as good as the label had me hoping.

The first thing that struck me, taking this out of the box, was that the colour of the wine itself is gorgeous and the label suits it so perfectly. Opening it up I was a little surprised by the fizz but the smell was wonderful and had me already drooling. My first thought was that I would try and do a little food experiment but I knew that would be hard. I managed it though and made some basic fudge with this wine instead of essence. Whilst it didn't set (either too much liquid or it just needs fridge time for longer) it added a nice touch to the fudge making it a yummy treat on the spoon.

Having a glass of this as it is I immediately enjoyed the taste and couldn't wait to have more. A little tart and crisp at first it tastes great. My husband reckoned that it didn't have much of a taste of feijoa but I thought that it was just perfect. The only thing I had to watch for with this is that due to the fizz habit had me trying to gulp it down.

This was a delicious wine, at almost $18 this is above what we can usually afford (which is an $8 bottle of wine every now and again), but for special occasions such as surgery (for Miss2) or anniversary's I could wrangle a few dollars and buy one.

Not usually a fan of 'dry' wines because of the acid aftertaste reacting badly with my tummy, this was a really pleasant surprise. A slight hint of dryness, but without the sharp acid aftertaste, this was a lovely wine to have a glass with a BBQ steak dinner, and also a nice one to sip in the evening while sitting in bed watching a DVD before bed.

I also used this in cooking, in place of my more usual red wine, in a Spaghetti Bolognese. Though it changed the flavour to a slightly sweeter savoury dish, it added a nice fruity dimension to the sauce and kept it a lighter red, giving the dish a more vibrant look, which combined to somehow make it feel less of a 'heavy' dish. This went down a real treat with the whole family, such that even fussy Mr4 happily polished off his portion and asked for "... more, pweeze?"

A glass of this with a meal left my head feeling utterly clear, which was great, and more importantly the lack of sulphites meant there was no foggy head or queasy feeling the next morning - typical results for me and wine of almost any variety. I found the definite feijoa flavour and aroma to be a wonderful change to the usual feijoa wines I have tried, where the fragrance is there but the flavour falls short of the mark. For a feijoa fan, this wine is second to none, in my books.

Overall, an excellent offering this year, and I sincerely hope every year's vintage turns out as well as, or better than this one! My first encounter with Lothlorien wines, it was a welcoming of a new friend to my wine rack!