Medium · sparkling
Kir royale
A spoon of crème de cassis under cold champagne. Two ingredients, ninety seconds, and the reddest glass on the tray.
- Pour
- 125 ml
- Strength
- Medium
- Best for
- Weddings, Winter holidays, Dinner parties
- Season
- Winter, Autumn
- Fizz
- Added at the door
- Ahead
- Jug ahead, top at the door
The welcome pour
One glass, 125 ml
Champagne flute, no ice. Garnish: a blackcurrant or a single raspberry, if you have them.
The spec, according to the IBA: a kir is 90 ml of dry white wine poured over 10 ml of crème de cassis; the royale substitutes champagne for the wine. Difford's Guide makes its royale a little richer, 15 ml of cassis under 120 ml of brut champagne.
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Crème de cassis | 10 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Champagne or dry sparkling wine | 115 ml (4 fl oz) | at the door |
The jug
How much for your party
One welcome drink per guest plus a 15% spare. Sparkling wine and soda are counted here but stay in the fridge until the door.
| Ingredient | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Crème de cassis 1 × 700 ml bottle (750 ml in the US) | 140 ml 4.5 fl oz | in the jug |
| Champagne or dry sparkling wine 3 × 750 ml bottles | 1.6 L 7 cups | at the door |
| The jug holds 140 ml (4.5 fl oz), which is 1 1.5-litre jug filled to 85%. Added per glass at the door: 1.6 L in all. | ||
Make it
In the jug, then at the door
Ahead. There is no jug. Pour 10 ml of cassis into each flute before guests arrive and line them up on the tray; cassis does not mind sitting.
At the door. Top each flute with cold sparkling wine, poured slowly down the side. The cassis rises through the wine on its own; a stir is optional.
Keeps. Cassis keeps for months in the fridge. Sparkling wine: open bottles as you need them.
- Buy a dry sparkling wine, brut or brut nature. Difford's advises the driest you can find, because the cassis is sweet and a soft, fruity fizz makes the drink cloying.
- Chill the wine for at least three hours. Chill the flutes too if there is room.
- Ten minutes before the doorbell, pour 10 ml of cassis into every flute. A 25 ml bar measure filled to the lower line is close enough.
- At the door: top with wine, hand over. Six glasses a bottle at this pour.
The alcohol-free twin
Blackcurrant royale
Nobody has published an alcohol-free kir royale we would cite, so this one is ours: undiluted blackcurrant cordial in place of the cassis, and an alcohol-free sparkling wine on top. The cordial is sweeter than cassis, so we keep it to the same 10 ml.
Cordial in the flute, cold alcohol-free sparkling wine on top. Serve it in the same flute as the original so nobody's glass looks different.
This twin is our own recipe, not a published one. We say so wherever that is the case.
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Blackcurrant cordial (undiluted) | 10 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Alcohol-free sparkling wine | 115 ml (4 fl oz) | at the door |
Why it works at the door
Kir royale, in three paragraphs
The kir is named after Canon Félix Kir, priest, resistance fighter and long-serving mayor of Dijon, who poured the local white wine and blackcurrant liqueur at official functions to promote Burgundy's own products; Difford's traces the drink itself to a waiter at the Café George in Dijon in 1904. The royale swaps the wine for champagne and turns a village aperitif into the drink most hotels hand you at a New Year reception.
For a host it is the easiest sparkling drink there is, because the only thing to prepare is a row of flutes with a spoon of cassis in the bottom. No juice, no syrup, no jug. It is also the drink that photographs best against a white tablecloth, which matters more at a wedding than anyone admits.
The one way to get it wrong is the wine. Cassis is a sweet liqueur; put it under a sweet prosecco and the glass tastes like squash. Under a bone-dry champagne or cava it is balanced, and the drier the wine, the more cassis it can carry.
Questions hosts ask
How much cassis per glass?
10 ml, which is the IBA's one-to-nine ratio for a kir. Difford's Guide goes to 15 ml with a very dry champagne. Start at 10 and taste.
Can I use prosecco instead of champagne?
Yes, if it is labelled brut or extra dry. A dry cava is the closest match for champagne at a fraction of the price; a sweet prosecco is the one thing to avoid.
How many glasses in a bottle?
Six flutes at 125 ml, which is exactly the maths the champagne houses use. For 30 guests with a 15% spare, that is six bottles.
Next to it on the tray