Kir

I've always thought that the Kir was a bad idea looking for good wine to ruin. Adding sugary sweetness to a white wine could only result in a warm, overly sweet fiasco. But with G. E Massenez creme de cassis, you can transform a soft white wine into a dessert drink that's palatable like a ruby port with lots of real black currant flavor. I think I liked it more than the Kir Royale.

I still think its a good idea to reduce the amount of creme de cassis a little and use plenty of white wine. This will keep the drink from warming up too quickly. Even better, you might want to chill the creme de cassis, especially if you want to use the full portion of creme de cassis in the recipe.

For this one I used a nice sauvignon blanc that was a little sweet to begin with. I squeezed the twist over the wine, which imparted a really pleasant lemon oil that lasted through the entire drink.

• 2 oz. creme de cassis
• white wine
• lemon twist

Combine creme de cassis and wine in a chilled wine glass. Twist lemon peel into drink and drop in.