Summer’s favorite cocktail: Cipriani Bellini

July feels to me like the pinnacle of summer, days well spent dining with friends and restful moments lounging poolside with a book…always with something fruity within reach. Specifically, a cocktail like this one that is as bright and beautiful as it is light and refreshing, a lovely way to bask in the season.

Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party makes the viewer feel like sipping something fruity and refreshing while dining alfresco. Look at the peachy colors in this Paris cafe overlooking the Seine, the painting captures a happy afternoon among friends. Doesn’t it make you want a Peach Bellini? Create your own European cafe with a few ingredients…it’s the bubbly parts during the day that are the best to just take a sip, and sit back.

The Peach Bellini is a famous bubbly cocktail that was created by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. Cipriani named his drink after Giovanni Bellini, his favorite Italian painter, because the peach color of the champagne cocktail matched the color Bellini used in one of his paintings for a saint’s toga. The Peach Bellini has become one of the most famous and popular of all wine cocktails or champagne cocktails. It’s also difficult to make because of the scarcity of pureed peaches.

Look at the peachy color of Saint Christopher’s toga.

It’s probably not wise to stray from the recipe from Harry’s Bar in Venice, where this summer cocktail first appeared in 1948. The essential white peaches, whose sieved pulp gives the cocktail its fragrance, can be found only in midsummer and autumn. Enjoy them now!

Harry’s Bar in Venice Cipriani Bellini

White peach puree
Prosecco (if you’re feeling Italian or Champagne if you’re feeling French)
Simple syrup, optional

Use a fine sieve to make the pulp from white peaches. Refrigerate the puree until it is very cold. If the peach is very tart, sweeten it with simple syrup.

When the puree is ready, combine with Prosecco: 1 part peach puree to 3 parts Prosecco (or 1 oz peach puree to 3 oz Prosecco).

Pour the mixture into well-chilled glasses and serve.

When summer is over Amazon can help…you can buy Cipriani Food Peach Bellini Mix to get your summer cocktail fix.