Kir
The Kir is two ingredients and a small act of civic promotion. Félix Kir was mayor of Dijon after the war, a Resistance priest who had helped several thousand prisoners escape, and he served blackcurrant liqueur with white Burgundy at every official reception he hosted. Both were local products that needed a market. The drink carried his name by the 1950s and outlived his politics entirely. It is an aperitif in the oldest sense: low in alcohol, dry, faintly sweet at the edges, and designed to be drunk before food rather than instead of it. Ten millilitres of cassis in ninety of wine is a small proportion, and the restraint is the whole design — the cassis colours the glass and rounds the wine's acidity without turning it into a soft drink. The wine matters more than the liqueur. Aligoté is traditional and correct: sharp, unoaked, and cheap enough that nobody minds what happens to it.
Glassware: Wine Glass
Garnish:
Ingredients
90ml
Bourgogne Aligoté traditionally: sharp, lean, unoaked and high in acid, which is exactly what a small measure of sweet liqueur needs to push against. Any dry, sharp, unremarkable white serves, and an oaked one leaves the drink flabby.
10ml
Poured into the glass first, so the wine mixes it as it goes in and no stirring is needed. Crème de cassis de Dijon is the appellation and it is worth paying for: the cheap versions taste of sugar and colouring rather than of blackcurrant.
Instructions
Chill the white wine thoroughly and the glass alongside it.
Pour the crème de cassis into the base of a wine glass.
Top up gently with the chilled white wine, which will mix it as it goes.
Serve immediately, without ice.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification). Last checked 13 August 2026.
Expert Tip
Pour the cassis first and the wine after. The wine going in does all the mixing needed, and a Kir stirred with a spoon after the fact simply loses what little lift the wine had. It is a two-ingredient drink and every unnecessary movement costs it something. Buy the wine cheap and the cassis well. That instinct runs backwards for most drinks and it is right here: the wine is a sharp, unoaked backdrop that a good bottle would only waste, while a thin cassis brings sugar and colour and no blackcurrant at all. Crème de cassis de Dijon is a protected appellation and the difference is obvious side by side. Serve it cold and serve it before a meal. Warm, it is cloying; afterwards, it is pointless.
Flavour Profile
The Mayor of Dijon
Félix Kir was a Catholic priest, a Resistance member who was shot and survived, and mayor of Dijon from 1945 until his death in 1968 at the age of ninety-two.
The drink was not his invention. Blanc-cassis had been drunk in Burgundy for decades before he took office, and what he did was serve it at every civic function and press it on visiting delegations. That was deliberate economic policy: Dijon's cassis producers and Burgundy's growers of Aligoté, the region's second grape, both needed the trade. The association stuck so completely that the older name fell out of use, and by the time anyone thought to object the drink was called a Kir everywhere.
The Wine
Bourgogne Aligoté is the traditional choice and it is the right one for reasons beyond tradition.
Aligoté is Burgundy's other white grape, planted where Chardonnay would not ripen well, and it produces a wine that is sharp, lean, unoaked and high in acid. Those are exactly the qualities a small measure of sweet liqueur needs to push against. A rounder, oaked white — a decent Chardonnay, say — has no edge for the cassis to soften, and the result tastes flabby and confected. Any dry, sharp, unremarkable white will serve: Muscadet, Picpoul, a basic Sauvignon. Spending money here is actively counterproductive.
The Proportion
Ten millilitres to ninety is roughly one part in ten, and it is a smaller measure than most bars pour.
The cassis is doing two jobs: colouring the glass a deep pink and taking the hard edge off a deliberately acidic wine. Neither requires much. Poured heavier — and a great many Kirs are poured at two or three times this — the drink stops being an aperitif and becomes a blackcurrant cordial with wine in it, sweet enough to dull an appetite rather than sharpen one. If it tastes of fruit rather than of wine, there is too much in it.
The Family
Swap the still wine for something sparkling and the drink changes name.
A Kir Royale uses champagne and is the version most people have met, being both more festive and considerably more expensive. A Kir Pétillant uses crémant, which is the sensible middle. A Kir Normand uses cider and belongs to Normandy rather than Burgundy, and a Communard or Cardinal replaces the white wine with red. All of them work on the same principle: a small measure of cassis against something dry and acidic, in a proportion that leaves the base recognisable.
The same logic extends past cassis. Peach liqueur in white wine gives a Kir Pêche, blackberry a Kir Mûre, and the Burgundians will pour whatever the local growers make. What none of the variations survive is a heavier hand: the moment the liqueur is tasted before the wine, the drink has stopped being an aperitif whatever it is called.
The Spirit
Crème de CassisCrème de cassis is a sweet liqueur made from blackcurrants. Rich, deeply fruity, and slightly tart, it is used to add dark berry flavour, sweetness, and colour to cocktails and aperitif serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Kir?
Dry white wine with a small measure of crème de cassis, served cold as an aperitif. The official specification is 90ml of wine to 10ml of cassis. It is named for Félix Kir, the post-war mayor of Dijon who served it at every civic function to promote both local products.
What wine should I use in a Kir?
Bourgogne Aligoté is traditional: sharp, lean and unoaked. Any dry, high-acid, unremarkable white works — Muscadet, Picpoul, a basic Sauvignon. Avoid anything oaked or rounded, which gives the cassis no edge to push against and tastes flabby.
What is the difference between a Kir and a Kir Royale?
The wine. A Kir uses still dry white wine; a Kir Royale uses champagne. A Kir Pétillant uses crémant and a Kir Normand uses cider. The cassis measure stays small in all of them.
Why is my Kir too sweet?
Almost certainly too much cassis. The official proportion is one part in ten, which is less than most bars pour. If the drink tastes of blackcurrant rather than of wine, cut the cassis rather than changing the bottle.
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits
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