Here’s what I learned about bellinis from Wikipedia:  they were invented by Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice.  Apparently the color of the drink reminded Cipriani of the color of a toga in a painting by Giovanni Bellini, so he named the drink after it.  He used white peach puree rather than the standard yellow peaches, so the color is a lovely and unusual pink.

Here’s what I learned about bellinis from tasting one at Harry’s:  they are freaking delicious.  Seriously, so good.  One ounce of white peach puree, five ounces of prosecco, and you’re in business.

Here’s what I learned about bellinis from making them for my LUPEC meeting:  pour the prosecco first, THEN add the peach puree, or it gets all excited and overflows all over the place.  They are still delicious with homemade organic peach puree (pureed this summer from Ela Farms peaches), but not a pretty pink color.

If you go to Venice, take the time to go to Harry’s and try one for yourself.  Yes, they’re expensive (9 euro for one, which at the time was like $14), but you drink one, feel all swanky and fancy in the bar, realize that you totally would have bonded with Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles had you but been there in the right decade, and head on out.  One note that was not in my guidebook:  women can apparently wear whatever they want in Harry’s, but men must be in long pants – no shorts.  We were turned away on our first attempt but went back that night in appropriate attire and triumphed.  While there for the one cocktail, so maybe 20 minutes (we drink fast), we saw at least five other groups get stopped at the door and gently informed of the policy, but it would have been easier to know before we tried.

It would have been prettier with the white peach puree, but it still tasted damn good.