French Kir Royale: The Two-Ingredient Blackcurrant Sparkler for Weeknights

Fill the flutes with ice and cold water and let them stand for 2 minutes, then dump and dry them. A properly cold glass keeps the bubbles fine and the drink from going flat in your hand.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 ounce creme de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur), chilled
• 8 ounces dry sparkling wine or Champagne, well chilled
• 2 wide strips lemon peel
• 2 fresh blackberries or blackcurrants, for garnish (optional)
• Ice, for chilling the glasses only
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional, for a drier finish)
• 1 wide strip orange peel, for an alternate garnish (optional)
• 2 chilled champagne flutes

Instructions

1. Fill the flutes with ice and cold water and let them stand for 2 minutes, then dump and dry them. A properly cold glass keeps the bubbles fine and the drink from going flat in your hand.
2. Pour half an ounce of creme de cassis into the bottom of each flute. Resist the urge to add more; the classic ratio is roughly one part cassis to eight parts wine, and going heavier turns an aperitif into a dessert.
3. Tilt the flute slightly and pour the sparkling wine slowly down the inside of the glass. Pouring straight down the center knocks out the carbonation you just paid for.
4. Let the foam settle, then top up to about half an inch below the rim. The cassis will draw itself up through the wine without stirring.
5. Add the optional squeeze of lemon juice if your sparkling wine is on the softer, fruitier side; it sharpens the finish.
6. Twist a strip of lemon peel over the surface to express the oils, rub it around the rim and drop it in.
7. Drop in a blackberry if you like, and serve immediately while the glass is still cold.
8. The drink is named for Felix Kir, a canon and wartime resistance figure who served as mayor of Dijon and poured the local blackcurrant liqueur with Burgundian white wine at civic receptions, reviving two regional products at once. Swap the sparkling wine for a still dry white and you have the original Kir; use cider instead and you have a Normandy Kir Breton. It is one of the few genuinely great drinks that requires no shaking, no measuring jigger, and no bar tools at all.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 168 kcal
• Protein: 0g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 12g
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 10g
• Sodium: 10mg