The Bellini

Bellisimo

It's Italy's best-known cocktail and a favourite the world over. Joanne Gibson explores the history of the Bellini and highly recommends making a local version using Méthode Cap Classique.

 

Apparently Orson Welles would down two bottles of Dom Pérignon at one sitting. Truman Capote would order the prawn sandwiches. But for the rest of us, no visit to Harry's Bar in Venice would be complete without a Bellini.

The ‘Champagne' cocktail (traditionally made with the Italian sparkling wine Prosecco) was invented by bartender Giuseppe Cipriani, who founded Harry's Bar in a discreet stone building near Piazza San Marco in 1931.

Harry, in case you're wondering, was Harry Pickering, in Cipriani's own words: "A sad young American student who had come to Venice with his aunt to cure his incipient alcoholism. I had serious doubts if the trip to Europe constituted the ideal cure for him, however, because he spent entire days at the bar at the Hotel Europa [where Cipriani was then the barman] in the company of his aunt, his aunt's young escort, and a dog."

After Pickering fell out with his aunt, he was left alone and cut off financially. "He stopped drinking almost entirely," noted Cipriani, who duly loaned him 10 000 lira. "I thought that he was such a fine young man..."

Cipriani was clearly a good judge of character, because Pickering eventually showed up to pay his debt - with interest. "In gratitude, I'm adding another 30 000 lira so that you can open a bar of your own," he reportedly said.

"I think they'll call it Harry's Bar. Not a bad name." In fact, Cipriani liked the name so much that he even gave the Italian version to his son Arrigo, the proprietor to this day and proud to be "the only man named after a bar".

The Bellini, meanwhile, finally got its name in 1948 when Cipriani decided that the unique, faintly pink colour of his bubbly-and-peach creation reminded him of the toga worn by a saint in a painting by 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini.

In the early years, scores of celebrities signed the guestbook at Harry's Bar, including arguably the most famous drinker of them all: "During the long, cold winter of 1949- 50, Ernest Hemingway installed himself comfortably in the Concordia room," said Cipriani.

"He was generous to a fault, and filled more pages of his chequebook than those of a medium-length novel. At the time, he was just finishing Over the River and Into the Trees in which he mentions Harry's Bar many times."

Not least because of this free publicity, Harry's remains one of the world's most famous bars. But it's not for backpackers - a single Bellini costs €16 (around R160). And it might seem worth it, given the setting, the history, the atmosphere. But the beauty of the Bellini is that it is an absolute breeze to make at home.

The recipe below is the official version according to the International Bartenders Association. But to get it right, there are a few important things to bear in mind: "Everything (the glasses, Prosecco and white peach purée) should be as cold as possible," states Harry's Bar website.

"When making your own purée, never use a food processor because it aerates the fruit. Add a bit of sugar or some simple syrup if the purée is too tart or a tad sour. And absolutely never use yellow peaches."

According to some sources, the original drink included a splash of raspberry juice for colour (but how pink could that toga on a faded 15th-century painting have been?).

And a final thought: while Champagne might be too richly flavoured (and expensive) to use, Méthode Cap Classique makes a splendid local alternative to Prosecco.

Bellini
Two parts dry sparkling wine
One part fresh white peach purée

Pour the purée into a chilled flute. Gently add the sparkling wine. Stir gently. Garnish with a peach slice.