The Trader Joe's Secco Wine You Should Just Leave On The Shelf

Made by an award-winning, family-owned winery in Germany, Trader Joe's Secco Bellinis are a sweeter, fruitier take on your other, sparkling brunch cocktails — and for just $6 a bottle, it can be hard not to throw them all in your cart. But, some of the flavors are more promising than others. Sold in peach, mango, strawberry-raspberry, and grapefruit — each served in another, ever more captivating shade of pink or orange — our tasters tried every Trader Joe's Bellini flavor and ranked them from worst to best. While all of these bottled Bellinis are intentionally bubbly, some of the flavors benefitted from the carbonation and others succumbed to it. The peach being a prime example of that. 

While there was nothing necessarily wrong with the peach Bellini from Trader Joe's, our taste testers found that the peach flavor didn't shine through as much as they had hope. Compared to the other flavors, the carbonation seemed to overpowered the juicy, fruity flavors that you look for in a peach and anything peach-flavored. Perhaps that's why so many customers find it too sweet and recommend using this Bellini flavor as an ingredient in your cocktails, rather than drinking it on its own. One idea is to pour it over blended or sliced frozen peaches to give it a stronger peach flavor, or top it off with more Prosecco, a squeeze of citrus, and a garnish of complimentary fresh herbs. Or, do yourself better and opt for another flavor entirely.

If you love peach-flavored things, then by all means, get the peach Secco Bellini. Just know you might not be satisfied with the amount of flavor that comes through. Aside from using frozen peaches, you might consider grabbing a peach juice to mix it with — just be wary of making it over sweet, in which case you shouldn't even consider buying the one from Trader Joe's. Still, any other one of Trader Joe's Bellinis will be a better pick. If you can open your mind to some other fruity flavors, you might be pleasantly surprised with the other Bellini options Trader Joes has to offer — our taste testers sure were. 

The grapefruit Bellini, for instance, gained points for striking the perfect balance of flavor. Unlike the peach, it manages to both showcase the flavor of the fruit without coming across too sweet, likely because grapefruit is naturally more tart. Even so, no bottle in Trader Joe's line of Secco Bellinis outshined the mango flavor. If you grab any one of Trader Joe's Bellinis over the peach, it should be the mango. This sparkling cocktail tastes as bright as it looks, and it delivers exactly what the peach one lacks: flavor. Upon the first sip, you'll be transported somewhere warm and tropical — which is what you should expect from something that claims to taste like fresh fruit. Serve it instead of your usual mimosa in the summer for even brighter days.