Weekly Wine Online

After a long weekend of Halloween fun, the Weekly Wino was ready for a quiet evening on Sunday. Her man knew just the place: a little French bistro on Hyde Street.

"Would you like zomething French... pairhaps a Kir Royale?" the waiter asked us. Oh yes, a Kir Royale.

"So what exactly is the story behind a Kir Royale," I asked myself as I sipped the lovely, bubbly, fizzy cassis and champagne combo. Heavenly tasting, that is for sure. But there must be more...

And yes, there is more. (isn't there always?!)

According to Wikipedia and Food-Worldwide.com, the Kir is named for Felix Kir, the mayor of Dijon, France from 1945 - 1968 (Dijon sits at the north end of the Burgundy Region). The cocktail was previously known as Vin-Blanc-Cassis or Blanc-Cass, for short, since it was exactly that: white wine with cassis. Long before Felix Kir arrived, the cocktail was popular in Burgundy, especially with the bottling of creme de cassis that began in 1841. The original blend made from Aligote, the lesser-white grape of Burgundy, and creme de cassis. Post World War II, when red wine was scarce, Mayor Kir, who supposedly loved to drink the cocktail, encouraged the promotion of the cocktail to spur the sales of white wine and creme de cassis, both of which are products of Burgundy. The cassis also mitigated the astringency of the white wine, which pleased former red-wine drinkers. One creme de cassis maker, the Lejay-Lagoutte Company, requested the right to call their product Kir, after Mayor Kir, and soon others followed suit. Thus was born the Kir.

On an interesting side note, Mayor Kir was also an ordained Catholic preist as well as a French Resistance fighter in World War II. You can read more about him by clicking here.

Since its origination, many variations on the Kir have been adopted, including the Kir Royale, which is Creme de Cassis and Champagne. Others include the following:

Kir Petillant - made with sparkling wine instead of Champagne

Communard or Cardinal - made with red wine instead of white

Kir Imperial - made with raspberry instead of cassis

Kir Normand - made with Normandy cider instead of wine

Cidre Royal - made with cider instead of wine (we also used to call this a Snakebite when I lived in England)

and the list goes on...

The best, in my opinion, is the Kir Royale. It's light, fizzy, tart and tasty. Plus, it's loaded with vitamin C. All in all, it's a recipe for delight.

Official Kir Royale recipe:

1 part creme de cassis

9 parts Champagne

Pour the creme de cassis in the bottom of the flute, then add the Champagne on top

Happy Tasting!