Festive cider reviews by Reaseaorg.
Celebrate Christmas with Angioletti Riserva cider !!!
The Good
“Good value”.
“Practical”.
“Good bottle design”.
“Light carbonation”.
“Natural taste and aftertaste”.
“Confident tang”.
“Bursting with natural sweetness”.
“Very session-able”.
“Thin to medium mouthfeel”.
“Not sickly”.
“Full flavoured”.
“Good all rounder”.
“Lasting, tangy aftertaste”.
“Unique floral freshness, with bitter twist”.
The Bad
“No bottle backstory”.
“No dryness, which was promised”.
“Boring colour scheme on bottle”.
Packaging
The James Bond of Italy. Names Angioletti, Vero Sidro Italiano Riserva, Angioletti…
Yeah doesn’t really scream James Bond as a name, unlike it’s packaging.
It’s a shapely dark vessel, embellished with ornate font, perched upon a private investigator shade, grey label.
The packaging here is quite fun. It’s sophisticated and fancy, with good quality bottle shape and design. What it isn’t though, unlike it’s Italian origin, is flamboyant or passionate. This is mainly due to the dull colour scheme selected.
As for backstory, the bottle gives nothing away. It mentions made from 100% Italian Apple juice, which is good to know.
For the English market, this is appealing as a USP, since the UK has some cider with just 30% juice content.
What the backstory omits, is that todays drink is part of the 6-product Angioletti range, based in the picturesque Italian Dolomite mountains. Home to the apples used in the product. Shame a trip to the website is needed to uncover this important piece of information.
So let’s have a quick recap of the range
Starting with today’s, the range is as follows: “Riserva”, “Secco”, Rose, Mela Rossa, Secco (Sparkling), and Rosé with Blueberry sparkling, to complete the range. Those I’ve reviewed, including today’s, are in (“).
Angioletti products range from 4-6.8% ABV. Today’s offering is the strongest in the range, clocking 6.8% ABV. This is my second Angioletti review, after my original (link below), of “Secco”, which translates as “Dry”, in English. This was only 5% ABV, resulting in 2 being needed to reach government “Do not regularly exceed” levels. This was impractical though, due to the 2 bottles placing you over the safe, 3-4 unit range.
Todays offering is more practical and cheaper, since only one bottle is required for “moderate” drinking. This puts you at 3.4 units, from 500ml of fluid, for just £1.95 from Sainsbury’s. This is instead of £4 for 5.2 units, for Angioletti “Secco”.
Things maybe looking up then ?
From the website, Like with “Secco”, the Cider-maker is named as Matteo Corazzolla. This is good to know here, since it puts some Italian personality back into an otherwise plain looking vessel.
The dryness is suggested as “medium” like with “Secco”, so should be present. The carbonation level should be light. The smell should be rich and complex.
The aftertaste should last well, and flavour should have a good level of acidity.
The whole taste sensation should be natural.
The experience should be beautifully balanced.
Let’s see if the cider lives up to these claims…
Smell
The aroma was persistent, and provided a very natural haze. It lasted well and wasn’t ephemeral. The smell had a confident strength too. It was highly fruity, and nothing artificial emerged. The scent continued to be smooth throughout release.
Taste
Immediately a natural and fruity sweetness emerged. This was followed by a moderate acidity, which wasn’t overpowering. It suggested great balance as promised. Carbonation certainly wasn’t overpowering, but was sufficient to lift the acidity to a pleasant tang. Carbonation was light as promised.
Aftertaste emerged quickly as a natural, tangy apple. The freshness was quite unbelievable !!
As for sweetness level, this was perfect to match the confident acidity. It blended so well, the individual components were difficult to identify. It was a very smooth and balanced drink therefore.
Dryness was difficult to detect. The finish had a little harshness to it, which seemed slightly bitter. The medium dryness promised, seemed absent. This was such a shame in an otherwise difficult-to-fault, drink.
As for unique character, wood wasn’t present. Perhaps it’s comfort though, was in how it reminded me of an orchard full of life and flowers. The slightly bitter finish with the flowers, supplied a great USP.
What’s not to like about floral character, followed by tangy bitterness ?
The mouthfeel was hard to detect at first, due to it’s full flavour which bursted out. It amazingly was only thin-medium ! Because it carried so much potency of flavour though, this really was sufficient.
Therefore, unlike the “Secco” offering, it was truly session-able.
It was a very well rounded beverage, perhaps my new favourite cider ?
Summary
Floral, Tangy and Bitter. Perrrfecto !
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Similar products
Original Angioletti review: https://reasea.org/2019/05/12/angioletti-secco-cider-review-8-25-10-strong-performer-in-refreshing-nature-could-have-used-some-dryness-and-uniqueness-though/
French cider: https://reasea.org/2019/02/25/galipette-biologique-cidre-review-8-5-10-weak-and-pricey-but-naturally-tangy/
Spanish cider: https://reasea.org/2017/08/31/maeloc-sidra-seca-dry-costly-fruity-non-dry-with-tang-but-no-balance-810/
My cider (rating and Poems) ebook: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sidastroll-Johnny-Depp-Ben-Hattrell-ebook/dp/B07LBZBJZ8
Send a great giftcard: https://www.redbubble.com/people/benhattrell1/works/38729957-yarmouth-pier-seafront-gardens-1-great-yarmouth-voyage?asc=u&p=greeting-card
Sources
http://www.cider.org.uk/juicecontent.htm
Product website https://www.angioletticider.com/portfolio_page/angioletti-riserva-craft-italian-cider-500ml-6-8-abv/
Tags: Italy, Italian cider, Riserva, Angioletti, Dolomite mountains, Floral cider, 100%applejuice, apples, Sainsbury’s, Reaseaorg, reasea, cider reviews, strong cider reviews, blogging
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