In preparation for one of our cocktail bar events, I was approached with the request “our ladies would like ‘Wild Berry Lillet'”. In principle, of course, I think that every guest should get what he or she likes, so I bought and tried all the ingredients…and didn’t have the heart for it. Sorry, but I can’t serve a drink that tastes like dissolved Haribo pacifiers.
That’s why I came up with this natural and more complex alternative, which we’ve almost always had with us since then and which our guests really enjoy.
Mme du Berry
15cl mineral water
3cl berry shrub (recipe below)
5cl Pasquet Pineau des Charentes
Serve in a large wine glass over ice cubes.
Shrub is the traditional name for a vinegar-soured fruit syrup or soft drink. Shrub usually consists of the following three ingredients: Fruit, vinegar, sugar. Here we replace Lillet with a traditional Pineau des Charenetes, a liqueur wine aperitif made from Cognac, which brings a completely different complexity and a fine play of acidity.
Berry shrub (approx. 700ml)
approx. 350g berries (here blueberries, raspberries and blackberries),
300g cane sugar,
zest and juice of one lime,
approx. 2cm grated ginger.
Crush the fruit a little, leave to infuse in the fridge for 24 hours and then strain through a sieve.
75ml red wine vinegar or verjuice
25ml balsamic vinegar
Stir in and pour into a hot rinsed bottle. To serve, top up with mineral water in a ratio of 5:1.
