Bellini
White peach purée and Prosecco. Two ingredients, no substitutions, and a very short season in which it is genuinely worth making.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a flute and both ingredients thoroughly — this drink is never shaken or stirred over ice.
Pour the peach purée into the flute.
Add the Prosecco slowly, in two or three pours, letting the foam settle between them.
Stir once, gently, with a bar spoon to combine without knocking out the bubbles.
A thoughtful finish
- White peaches, not yellow. Yellow peaches are more acidic and more aggressively flavoured; the drink goes from delicate to jammy.
- Purée, not juice or nectar. Blend ripe peeled peaches and, if you like, pass them through a sieve. No added sugar — ripe fruit has enough.
- Everything cold before it meets. There is no ice in a Bellini, so chilling is the only temperature control you get.
Common mistakes
- Using Champagne. Prosecco is softer, fruitier and less acidic, and the drink was built around it.
- Peach schnapps or bottled peach nectar, which make it cloying and artificial.
- Pouring the wine fast, which foams the purée up over the rim and flattens the drink.
A few good questions.
Can I use frozen peaches?
Yes, and out of season it is a better answer than an underripe fresh peach. Thaw, blend and chill. Avoid anything sold in syrup.
What is the right ratio?
The IBA gives one part purée to two parts Prosecco. Harry's Bar has historically been closer to one to three. Start at one to two and adjust to the ripeness of your fruit.
Is a Bellini the same as a mimosa?
No. A mimosa is orange juice and sparkling wine. The Bellini uses peach purée, is thicker in texture, and is made with Prosecco specifically.
Can I batch it for a party?
Purée and chill the peaches ahead, then build each glass to order. Pre-mixing with the wine means flat Bellinis within half an hour.
Variations
- Rossini — Strawberry purée in place of peach.
- Tintoretto — Pomegranate juice in place of peach.
- Puccini — Fresh mandarin juice in place of peach.
- Mimosa — Orange juice and sparkling wine.
Where it comes from
c. 1948 · Venice, Italy · Giuseppe Cipriani · Harry's Bar
Giuseppe Cipriani created the drink at Harry’s Bar in Venice some time around 1948 and named it for Giovanni Bellini, the fifteenth-century Venetian painter — the story is that the drink’s pink-gold colour reminded Cipriani of the toga of a saint in one of Bellini’s paintings. Harry’s made it with white peaches, which have a short Italian summer season, and for years the bar simply stopped serving it out of season rather than use anything else.
Sources
- Harry's Bar, Venice, house history, current (venue)
- Arrigo Cipriani, Harry's Bar: The Life and Times, 1996 (book)
- IBA Official Cocktails list, current (standards body)
Strength. About 0.73 US standard drinks at an estimated 6.4% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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