Bellini (Italian)

A common find on the brunch menus today, Bellini is a classic cocktail made with two parts Prosecco and one part fresh peach purée. To prepare, the peach purée is poured into a chilled champagne flute first, followed by Prosecco, and the cocktail is then stirred gently, so the bubbles do not break. The original Bellini also included a small amount of raspberry or cherry juice which gave it a lovely pink glow. Variations on the original include a Puccini which has fresh mandarin juice in place of peach purée, a Rossini which is made with fresh strawberry purée, and Tintoretto, a cocktail made with fresh pomegranate juice. Bellini is served straight up, meaning without ice.

Invented sometime between 1934 and 1948 by the owner of Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, Giuseppe Cipriani, the Bellini cocktail was at first a seasonal special, but became a year-round staple once fresh peach purée became available out of season. The cocktail was named Bellini because the pink colour of the cocktail reminded him of the toga of a saint in the painting of Giovanni Bellini, a 15th-century Venetian painter. The Italian wine Prosecco used to make Bellini’s is produced in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The Veneto is also home to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

4 whole white peaches
4 tsp. raspberry or cherry purée
16 oz Prosecco

Garnish:
4 slices white peach

Peel the skin off the peaches with a paring knife.

Puree the skinned peaches in a blender. Remove puree from the blender and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Purée can be kept for 3 days, tightly sealed, in the refrigerator.

Blend raspberries until puréed, then pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

In a champagne or fluted glasses add 2 oz of white peach purée to each glass.

Then add 1 tsp. of raspberry or cherry purée.

Add 4 oz of Prosecco to each glass.

Stir gently with a tsp. and add a slice of peach to each glass for garnish.

Makes 4 servings.