#mauisplash

Hey y’all! I haven’t forgotten about this wonderful project of mine. I just had to take a break during the school year in order to make sure that I graduated. Yeah, surprisingly, after writing essay after essay during the week, the last thing I wanted to do while tasting wine was write about it. But now I’m graduated and I can spend all of my time (and money) on wine!

  I’m home in Hawaii right now, so I decided I should try some Hawaiian wine. That’s right, they make wine in Hawaii! And surprise, they make it with pineapples. I mean, we could try and be more cliché, but I’m sure it’ll taste delicious. Hopefully I still have the palate I used to!

  Now let’s hele on* to the wine tasting!

  *Local kine talk for let’s go.

  Name: Maui Splash Passion Fruit

Vineyard: Ulupalakua Vineyard

Vintage: Didn’t say.

Alcohol %: 11.5%

Region: Maui, Hawaii

Country: USA

Website: http://mauiwine.com/

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A very clear, slightly yellow liquid. In the picture, it looks essentially identical to water. In the bottle, however, it has a more appealing color, a soft yellow.

-       Smell: This is definitely a pineapple wine. If you put this next to a glass of pineapple juice from the can, I would be unable to tell this difference. I take that back. There’s definitely a slight wine-y smell to it, but the pineapple mostly overpowers it.

-       Taste: I was expecting an overpowering sweet taste so I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of this wine. Definitely tastes like pineapple and other tropical fruits, but in a crisp way, not in a pineapple juice way. It has a slightly sour aftertaste, not in a horrible way, but it serves as an extra reminder that you’re drinking actual wine, not just alcoholic pineapple juice.

-       Chug-ability: That aftertaste I just mentioned prevents it from being 100% chug-able. Although I expect if you’re in Hawaii enjoying pineapple wine, you’re going to want to enjoy the glass, not play drinking games with it.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope.

-       Design: Definitely a bottle worth displaying, and the adorable cork didn’t hurt. The label is bright and colorful without being tacky, featuring palm trees and a house on stilts on the side of a hill along Maui’s coastline. Plus, it prominently says Maui Splash if you want to brag about your exotic tastes. (I would like to take this time to remind you that Hawaii is part of the United States, since some people apparently don’t know that.) The bottle itself is clear and unfussy.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork! But it’s a beautiful cork, with their logo and website on it. I approve of any vineyard with a good social media game.

-       Price: I got it on sale at Safeway for $9. But on average wine in Hawaii is about $1-2 more than in the states, so I’d guess it would be $7 normally. Actually, since it isn’t imported, it’s probably just $9. Prices are confusing. Anyway, not the cheapest wine and it’s probably hard to get outside of Hawaii. 

CLASSY

-       Color: Again, still a watery, light gold. Pleasant to look at in a glass.

-       Smell: Chilling the wine did not really affect the smell as far as I could tell.

-       Taste: Surprisingly, the chilled wine was sweeter than when I had simply tasted it warm. It’s still not on a moscato-level where it’s too sweet to handle (and I say that as someone who enjoys limited quantities of moscato), but it was more pineapple-y and passion fruity than when I first tried it. The aftertaste is less powerful though, which is a good sign for its chug-ability.

-       Value: It’s hard to rate value in paradise. But if you happen to be in Hawaii, I would definitely recommend this wine. It’s sweet but not in an awful way, it’s relatively cheap for a local wine, and most importantly, supporting local Hawaiian businesses over similarly priced wine is a worthy endeavor. Plus, that alcohol content doesn’t hurt.

I had never had pineapple wine until tonight, or really considered it as a possibility. But it was delicious and worth every penny. I ate it with sushi and it paired very well, as most white wines do with sushi. If you want, you can order it online on the website, but other than that, this might be a wine you only enjoy it paradise. Hopefully Trader Joe’s adds this to their wine selection soon. It could be a great spring white!