Luxardo Aperitivo

Appearance: Bright artificial orange/red. Aroma: Sweetened citrus, mainly orange and grapefruit. The merest hint of spice. Flavour and Texture: Sugary sweet citrus zest with some herbal bitterness when neat. It is greatly improved when used as a flavor base for a spritz with prosecco, champagne or even just soda. The sweetness needs to be reduced to a balancing role before the complexity of palate shows through. An agreeable aperitivo, but not one that lives on the top shelf. It is similar to Aperol but is less fresh citrus forward and more herbal. There is a grapefruit note that gains in prominence when diluted, but whether it is actually derived from grapefruit oils or is a combination of citrus and gentian, I couldn’t say. Gentian itself is certainly noticeable – in fact Luxardo is something like Aperol with a splash of Suze. Good value and certainly worth a try as an alternative in your usual favourite summer spritz, but for my palate probably the most "generic" of the aperitivi I've tried. “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)