D’Marie Gourmet foods will be at the Minnesota State Fair, and were kind enough to send over some samples of their Frappe Vino drink mixes for us to try.
“Our frozen wine slush mix, made of all natural ingredients, makes great tasting frozen wine slushes, and works wonderfully with your favorite frozen cocktail recipe. Great with Rum, Vodka, Champange and many other libations.
To make a Frappe Vino wine slush, simply pour the powdered mix into a zip-top gallon sized baggie or a plastic container, add a 750ml bottle of red or white wine (inexpensive will do), and 750ml of water (use the wine bottle as your measuring tool). Place the mix in the freezer, and in 3-5 hours you will have a wonderful frozen wine slush.
Green Tea is the base for our mix. Evaporated cane juice is used as a sweetener and red cranberry juice is used for color. The wine used gives Frappe Vino its’ ultimate color and flavor.”
From: D’Marie’s Website
Green tea in my wine? Sounds like an intoxicant and an anti-oxidant, win-win?! I wonder if the green tea negates any hangover like effects. (We won’t be experimenting with that one, but if you do — let us know!)
D’Marie sent along a 3-pack, and I decided to experiment by trying it two different ways.
GIVEAWAY ALERT! We have a package to give away. Sign-up below to enter to win, we’ll be selecting the winner on Tuesday, September 6 (the last day after the end of the State Fair).
First up: Rose Slush
First up: Rose SlushSince the drink mix is not flavored, it takes on the natural flavors of the alcoholic beverage you mix it with. So, I wanted to try something simple — the idea of drinking a pink wine slushie sounded really appealing! I followed the directions on the package:
1- 750ml bottle of wine (a dry Rose)
1 – 750ml bottle of water
1 – Package Frappe Vino mix
Stir, stir, stir – it takes a good minute or two of vigorous stirring to see all the mix dissolved. The mix itself has a bit of pink in it, combined with the rose wine, made for a very vibrant hue.
I checked the freezer at 3 hours – still liquid. At 5 hours, it was perfectly slushy and I sampled some. The result was a lightly wine-flavored crystallized beverage (with a texture much like a whipped margarita). The added sugar in the mix did make the dry, crisp rose noticeably sweeter but still tasty. I wouldn’t recommend this with a sweet wine unless you like your flavors lip-puckering sweet.
After freezing overnight, it was thicker, but still able to scoop.
Next: MN Uncorked’s Sangria Slush
Next: MN Uncorked’s Sangria SlushD’Marie’s website has a number of recipes you can make with the Frappe Vino — from margaritas to cosmopolitans, but I didn’t see a sangria. My husband is all about umbrella drinks (seriously, he likes a good sangria) so I sent about to see if I could come up with something. Inspired by garden-fresh raspberries, and having a taste for a sangria with deep cherry and berry flavors, I used the following:
1 – 750ml bottle of Pinot Noir
1/4 C – Cherry juice
1/3 C – Pineapple juice
1/2 C – Brandy
1 Apple, chopped fine
1 C Fresh raspberries
1 Package Frappe Vino
When serving: Mix 1/2 sangria and 1/2 sparkling water (do not mix in the sparkling water before freezing, it will either a: de-carbonate when freezing— if your container is not completely sealed, or b: if your container is really well-sealed, it container could burst, leaving you with a freezer-catastrophe).
In a pitcher, I added the liquids and Frappe Vino mix. Once well mixed, I gently stirred in the fresh fruit. Checking the freezer at approximately 3 and 5 hours – the sangria still wasn’t slushy.
Perhaps the alcohol content was too high to form a slush? Checking again 9 hours it was thick, but not slushy. I sampled some (mixing 1/2 sangria with 1/2 sparkling water). The result? A pretty tasty sangria, albeit a touch sweet and syrupy for my taste buds (flavor alert: I’m preferential to dry, so that should be taken into account).
Fast-forward overnight: The next morning, the sangria was frozen pretty solid. I’m no chemist, but clearly the higher alcohol content prevented it from freezing as fast, but it did in fact freeze more solid than the rose slush which remained… slushy. 5 minutes out of the freezer, the sangria was again scoop-able to serve.
The verdict?
I had a good time with these. Something buzz-worthy to offer at your next cocktail party, or a fun novelty gift — but at $13 for a single ($30 for a three-pack) I find the price a bit steep. I’m also unapologetic-ally thrifty, though.
D’Marie Gourmet Foods will be at the Minnesota State Fair in the Creative Activities Annex if you want to try these without having to ship. You can find them on our Minnesota State Fair Wine Guide.
Giveaway
*This giveaway is CLOSED*
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