Neither breakfast nor lunch. A mix of both. That’s what brunch is about. It’s an Anglo-Saxon habit imposed by weekend lazybones, that is to say, those who got up too late for breakfast and, at the same time, too early for lunch.
Combining the best of both worlds, the classic brunch menu is made up of savory dishes and sweet delicacies. Of course, infusions are also present, together with some low-alcohol drinks. That’s why most brunch cocktails contain sparkling wine. Among them, we can find three classics that should be present in any good brunch: Mimosa, Bellini and Kir Royal.
Despite the specific recipes, in all cases the wine should be freezing cold. Usually, the mostly used are Extra Brut wines, given they are drier and they create a perfect balance when combined with fruit pulp.
Mimosa
It is said that this cocktail was first prepared for the first time in Hemingway Bar, at the Ritz Hotel, in Paris. There, amidst the roaring twenties, the French high society enjoyed this cocktail made of equal parts of champagne and orange juice.
The name is inspired by the Mimosa flowers, which are tiny, delicate and yellow, and grow in the South of France.
This drink is very easy to prepare: fill a flute glass halfway with Luigi Bosca Cuvée Extra Brut and complete the drink with freshly squeezed orange juice.
Among them, we can find three classics that should be present in any good brunch: Mimosa, Bellini and Kir Royal
Kir RoyalAs is the case with many classic cocktails, there was a predecessor to the Kir Royal: the Blanc-cassis, which combined Crème de Cassis with white wine made out of Aligoté grapes, from Bourgogne.
Once World War 2 ended in 1945, priest Felix Kir became the mayor of Dijon city and he offered this drink to his guests in all of his protocolar meetings, and that’s the reason why it was known as the “Kir”. A few years later, there was a new hint of sophistication added to the drink by changing the still wine into champagne. That way, this “Kir” was upgraded to “Kir Royal”.
To prepare this cocktail, pour Luigi Bosca Extra Brut into a flute glass, leaving three centimeters free to complete the drink with ½ oz of cassis liquor.
Bellini
This cocktail has a romantic touch, created in Venice, as far as 1948, by Giuseppe Cipriani, the bartender at Harry’s Bar.
Its peachy shade, according to Cipriani, resembled Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini’s art works, so he named the drink after the artist.
The drink is suggested to be prepared with fresh peaches, blitzed in a blender until getting a liquid purée consistency. Add a dash of sugar syrup and mix for a few seconds more. Finally, pour 50ml of the pulp into a flute glass and complete the drink with 150ml of Luigi Bosca Extra Brut. It’s important that the pulp be freezing cold and to pour the wine slowly while the glass is tilted, to avoid creating too much foam.
