BELLINI
AND VARIOUS FIZZY COUSINS
100ML/4OZ WHITE PEACH PURÉE
1 BOTTLE (70CL/25 FLOZ) SPARKLING WINE
Stir the purée and wine together in a jug. Pour slowly into chilled flutes, stirring gently as you go.
THE CLASSIC BELLINI, invented by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1948 at Venice’s famous Harry’s Bar and named after the 15th-century painter Giovanni Bellini, takes white peach purée and tops it up with prosecco.
Make your own purée by poaching very ripe peaches in a little water then straining through a fine sieve (sweeten it a little, if you like). Other summer fruits work well treated the same way – try raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants or (my favourite) redcurrants. When autumn hits try blackberries, and in the depths of winter use rhubarb. Fruit liqueurs such as crème de cassis (blackcurrant), crème de mûre (blackberry) or even apricot brandy are a handy standby, and damson and sloe gin also work well.
Red vermouths rub along nicely with sparkling wine, and to my mind make brilliant aperitifs as their appetising bitterness broods in the background of the fruity bubbles. About 20ml/3/4fl oz of vermouth in the bottom of a flute should do it, although the weight and intensity of your vermouth may mean you want to go lower or higher.
If I’m drinking decent fizz, it seems rather like gilding the lily to add anything else to its classy finesse. Sparkling wines of a more lowly pedigree, however, often respond well to a little gilding. Cheap fizz can be punishingly acidic after a glass or two, yet its edges can be so easily softened to give drinks real pizazz. Be aware that prosecco tends to have an underlying sweetness to it while cava is usually drier, so you may want to adjust things accordingly.
