Apart from martinis, I don’t drink many other cocktails. Nonetheless, sometimes there is the ideal occasion.

A Kir Royale is a classic cocktail, simple and elegant.

Its two constituent ingredients are champagne (or sparkling wine) and Crème de Cassis.

Crème de Cassis is a sweet liqueur originating in Burgundy, made with blackcurrants. It is delicious on its own and could even stand in as a sort of dessert. It is perhaps best known, however, for its role in the Kir Royale.

A Kir Royale is similar to a Champagne Cocktail in terms of its elegance, as well as its suitability for a group setting. Given how simple it is to prepare the drink, it can be fairly straightforward to make a pretty special impression on a large group of people, without creating the potentially unmanageable logistics of handling a large crowd of people drinking martinis.

In short, it is good for a dinner party.

The Kir Royale started life in Dijon, France. Its predecessor was the Kir Apéritif, which was a mixture of white wine and Crème de Cassis, popularised in the early 1900s. The Kir Royale replaced the wine with sparkling wine for that extra finesse.

Many recipes call for champagne, but the Martini Socialist (and many mixologists) think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using a more affordable sparkling wine. Proper champagne is probably better savoured in its pure form.

You will need

• Sparkling wine
• Crème de Cassis
• Blackberries (fresh or frozen)
• Flute glasses

Preparation

It is recommended that you chill your flute glasses before serving this. Keep them in the freezer for 30-60 minutes in advance of preparation if you can, 20 minutes if you are very pushed.

The sparkling wine should of course be kept in the fridge for several hours, as should the Crème de Cassis, simply to cool them down.

When it is time to serve

Take out the glasses from the freezer and lay them out on a table, drink station or wherever you are going to serve them.

Take out the sparkling wine and Crème de Cassis from the fridge and open both bottles.

Pour a dash of the sparkling wine into each glass.

Add a tablespoon of Crème de Cassis to each (or more to taste if you really want to bring out the blackcurrant flavour).

Give the glass a light swirl to mix the sparkling wine and Cassis.

Drop in either a blackberry (fresh or frozen are both good) or a twist of lemon peel.

Top up each glass with more sparkling wine.

Serve immediately.

If you are serving these to a large group of people, you can pour the first portion of sparkling wine and Crème de Cassis first, so all the glasses are ready, then top them up with the bulk of the sparkling wine immediately before serving them, or when your guests arrive – especially if they don’t all arrive at the same time.

This is a delicious drink in Autumn, with the fresh blackberries evoking the flavour of the changing seasons. However, if you can manage to get them fresh or frozen, I think it’s also a really nice drink at Christmas.

Santé!