If you’re a fellow mimosa enthusiast, you’ll know it’s pretty hard to mess one up. You can stick with an OG mimosa recipe fit for a crowd or zhuzh it up with fun flavors like pineapple or peach, and maybe throw in some fruit slices and a fun garnish. All are acceptable. What’s not acceptable, though, is the kind of bubble-free mimosa that we discovered when we set out to rank nine store-bought mimosa brands from worst to best.
The worst store-bought mimosa was Soleil’s Mango Mimosa, an iteration of the Soleil Mimosa brand. The drink was lacking in flavor and bubbles, so flat and dull that we can’t recommend it to anyone. In comparison to other store-bought mimosas on the list, this one is unremarkable and accompanied by a bitter aftertaste. The worst part was that the lack of carbonation made it taste as if it had gone flat after sitting on the counter for multiple days.
What’s missing in Soleil’s Mango Mimosa?
The Soleil Mimosa brand is run by the Lescombes family, a sixth-generation winemaking tradition passed down over the decades. The company’s first premixed mimosa was bottled in 1996, and since then, the company has developed five other flavors, including mango. The vineyards harvest grapes for the wine in New Mexico and began sourcing fresh oranges for the mimosas in 2007, allowing the company to improve its recipe. Soleil Mimosa bottles are distributed across the country at big-name and local retailers, such as Total Wine & More and The Fresh Market, but even a pretty bottle can’t distract from disappointing flavors.
According to Soleil Mimosa, the mango mimosa is created with “succulent mango juice” and “crisp white wine,” which leads us to wonder, can this even be considered a mimosa? The mimosa was supposedly created in the 1920s by a bartender named Frank Meier, whose recipe called for the juice of an orange and a splash of champagne. Soleil Mimosa’s drink contains white wine, which is very different from champagne or any other bubbly beverage to use in place of champagne. Perhaps it’s best to take our writer’s advice and stick with another store-bought mimosa brand.
