Kir
Dry White Wine with Blackcurrant Liqueur
Burgundy's apéritif is a glass of sharp white wine with a little blackcurrant liqueur at the bottom. The wine should be dry and cold and the cassis used sparingly: the drink is meant to be pale pink and refreshing, not purple and sweet.
Difford's Guide traces the drink to a blanc-cassis served in a Dijon café in 1904 and says it took its name from Canon Félix Kir, a Resistance figure and mayor of Dijon who served it at official receptions to promote local products. It gives six parts of Bourgogne aligoté to one of crème de cassis, all well chilled. With sparkling wine it becomes a Kir Royale.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 20 ml crème de cassis
- 120 ml dry white wine (Bourgogne aligoté if possible), well chilled
Method
- Pour Pour the crème de cassis into a small wine glass. Top up with the cold white wine; the pouring is enough to mix it.
- Serve Serve at once, without ice, before a meal. Taste and adjust next time: some prefer one part cassis to nine or ten of wine.
Buy a good crème de cassis. The cheap ones taste of boiled sweets.