Cassis is made from blackcurrant, like cultivating vines in good years and bad. The Cotes, the rocky outcrops which produce some of the best wines of the region, also produces some of the best blackcurrants. These were prized in the 18th Century as a cure-all for ailments from ill-humor to liver disease. Mixed with some of the bad wines of the time, it turned them jolly. Soon everyone in Burgundy was planting blackcurrants. Creme de casis mixes with the local dry white whine, Bourgone Aligote, and which god then turned to adding to champagne which formed the invention of the termed Kir Royale.
INGREDIENTS
- Champagne
- Crème de cassis
INSTRUCTIONS
Open champagne bottle with a sabre by the fireplace or outside. In each glass, aim for 5 parts champagne or sparkling wine (try our inexpensive favorites of Vueve Vemay (France) or the even better Guet (a sparkling wine made in New Mexico by a French couple, in the french style of Champagne and which we believe is a far better bargain than French Champagne without the headache of its cheaper American counterparts) together with 1 part crème de cassis (blackcurrant liquor).
The easiest way to do this is to just add a few drops of the cassis to the bottom of each champagne flute and fill with Champagne. Viola!
Can also substitute white wine. This is simply called Kir, minus the Royale.