As a firm prosecco lover, I often like to pimp it up with a liqueur or 2. A flavoured gin is my go to in winter but I was yet to find the perfect pairing for my prosecco in the summer months. Let me introduce you to the latest in the Hotel Starlino range of vermouths, aperitivos and cherries – the Starlino Arancione.
The Starlino products hail from the Vergnano family’s distillery in Piedmonte, North East Italy. Starlino Arancione aperitivo is capitalising on the success of orange wines, using white wine and orange distillate made from Sicilian blood oranges. Added to this is lemon peel and seven other herbs and botanicals to create a unique tasting drink that is gorgeous served neat over ice or in a summer spritz.
The vintage looking apothecary style bottle makes it a beautifully unique gift too with its ceramic stopper, designed to look like an old fashioned door knocker. The ‘Hotel Starlino’ strapline is carried throughout the bottle design with the antique luggage label design on the front and a quirky ‘do not disturb’ sign on the back. Head Distiller Beppe Ronco says this is because the brand has so many friends and visitors to the distillery, that is it like a hotel. It’s a lovely way of thinking about a brand and certainly made me wish it was appropriate to travel to Italy right now!
I fully expected Starlino Arancione to taste like the other orange coloured aperitivo from Italy but that is far from the case. There is a touch of bitterness from the lemon and blood orange but the richness really comes through with a sweet juiciness that makes your mouth water as you drink. It is perfect for the warm weather we are currently experiencing and I thoroughly enjoyed it over ice and topped with tonic. It reminded me of the Port-Tonic combination that I enjoyed in Porto and it feels like a new wave of lower alcohol drinks are hitting our market, that are all about taste and enjoyment rather than their alcohol percentage. For me, that can only be a good thing.
You can buy a bottle of Starlino Arancione from Amazon, where it currently retails for £22.
You can read more about the brand on their website.
Contains PR Samples
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