Ruby Rocket's meteorite mango fruit and veggie
superpops - the ingredients are water, butternut
squash, pineapple, passionfruit, sweet potato, mango,
and monkfruit extract. The flavors are, in order of
noticeability, passionfruit, butternut, pineapple,
mango, and little if any sweet potato. I'd have
expected the butternut and sweet potato to have
given some richness to the mouthfeel, but there was
none - the effect was of a slightly overiced Popsicle.
It was rather sour - I don't think monkfruit works
for me. At least there's not a bitter edge such as
other sugar substitutes impart. The butternut came
out in a slightly disgusting rotten squashiness (and
I normally like winter squashes), the mango was an
afterthought, the first three flavors combining to
create an artificial mango if you will followed by
a hint of varnishy mangoness.

Chocolate Silk protein nutmilk - nut extractives are
notoriously low in protein, so the White Wave folks have
remedied this using pea protein, which I'm told is all
the rage these days, to make a soy-free lactose-free
product that is nutritionally comparable to real milk.
That's the pro. The major con is as with other legume
products, this stuff made me fart like a cow. Relatively
neutral things: the taste was mildly sweet and very
mildly chocolatey with a hint of vegetality; the texture
was a little odd, with an unsatisfying mouthfeel; color
was lighter than chocolate milk ought to be.

Hatfield Creek Fonzi field blend 16 - Lilli opened this
for a treat, but it turned out to be vinegared, fruit-free,
charm-free. I told her she had to take it back (10 miles
down the road). She demurred, but I was insistent. We
recorked the bottle, and she put it aside for when she
visited Chris and Rob, who live within walking distance
of the winery. A couple days later I got this e-mail
forwarded from the vintner:
We have discovered the flaw in a few bottles of 2016
Estate Fonzi Field Blend, and 2015 Syrah If you have
taken home a bottle of these and found any flawed,
please contact Elaine directly at ...

Simi Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma) 15 - almost a real wine.
Slight off nose, a little vegetal, a throwback to the old
days when California Cabs were very greeny peppery; now
they're more peppery peppery, but this bottle lacks that.
A bit of oak and maybe eucalyptus. Lighter fruits - mostly
red - than I prefer. A decent wine for $12 the bottle (it
costs $14 a glass at the Admiral's Club).

Il Casolare 17 (Marche) - half Sangiovese, half Montepulciano
- very dry, quite phenolic and tannic, low fruit. Not the
kind of stuff that the proles drink (see 1984), but I found
it quite potable, going rather well with a piece of red beef -
one wonders if Winston Smith ever tasted proper beef, either.
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