I found a nice inexpensive French wine at the Wegmans liquor store a few weeks ago called Aligote, and while standing in the aisle of the store, I closed my eyes and thought about the french drink Kir.  What a fabulous aperitif!

Now, I know many of you Americans are confusing this drink I’m talking about with Kir Royale.  These are two different drinks made with one similar ingredient!  Here’s the difference:

To prepare the original Kir, use one third of creme-de-cassis (a black-currant flavor liquer), and two thirds of Aligoté wine.  Enjoy responsibly!!

Aligote is a french wine from Burgundy made from the varietal that has the same name as the wine.  If you aren’t lucky enough to have an awesome liquor store like Wegmans that carries these lesser-known French wines, search for a white wine with strong acidity and scents of lemon and apple.  Usually white wines with this characteristics are coming from cold areas.  (Do you know why Aligote is so unknown?  I’ll tell you!  It’s because the Burgundy region produces all these other fancier and more expensive wines that the inexpensive Aligote fades into the background.  What a shame.)

Whenever you use champagne in the cocktail instead of wine, you will have  the so called Kir Royale.

Try also crème-de-mures (black-berry flavored)  insead of creme-de-cassis.

Tommaso

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