Best Bellini Cocktail: the Italian original cocktail recipe

Bellini cocktail is a long drink ideal for summertime and belongs to the family of sparkling cocktails, those made of fresh fruit and sparkling wine or Champagne. Originally known as Mimosa variation, it is a prepared with seasonal white peaches mixed with brut sparkling wine or prosecco. This is a refined and delicious Italian cocktail: the texture and freshness of the sparkling wine are perfectly combined with the aroma and flavor of peaches. As for the doses, the ratio of ingredients is 1 to 2: sparkling wine must be added in double the quantity of peach nectar. This is very important especially if you have to prepare pitchers of cocktails for summer parties. Here is how to make the Bellini cocktail step by step.

Bellini Cocktail History

Bellini cocktail was invented in 1948 by Giuseppe Cipriani, in the famous Harry's Bar in Venice. The long drink was prepared in honor of the painter Giovanni Bellini, in occasion of one of his exhibitions. It is said the pink color of the cocktail was inspired by the color of the cassock of a saint portrayed by Bellini: originally, in fact, the drink was prepared with Champagne, white peach nectar and a bit of raspberry puree which gave the cocktail a pinkish color. Bellini became famous, not only thanks to its fruity and sweet taste, but also thanks to the artists who used to frequent Harry's Bar and spread its knowledge all over the world.

How to make Bellini Cocktail

Wash the white peaches with running water and peel them. Now cut them in half, remove the central stone and cut them into wedges. Place them in a colander and crush them with a spoon in order to extract the nectar.

Strain the puree through a fine-meshed strainer to obtain a homogeneous pulp. Pour the peach nectar into a flute and add the brut sparkling wine or prosecco, well chilled, until the glass is full. Serve Bellini cocktail immediately garnished with a peach slice.

Tips

For the preparation of Bellini use the white and ripe peaches, which you find fresh from June to August. These are juicy peaches with a delicate flavor, moreover the skin has streaks ranging from white to pink. This cocktail should be prepared only with this type of peaches, as the others are more fibrous and less sweet.

You can also use a blender to prepare Bellini cocktail: the best solution if you need to prepare a larger quantity. Blend at low speed, however, so as not to overheat the peaches too much: if you do, add a little ice.

Avoid using industrial peach juice for the preparation of Bellini, at the most use homemade peach nectar.

To prepare a Bellini royal you can replace prosecco with Champagne. If you want to prepare a non-alcoholic version, replace sparkling wine with soda.