You couldn’t ask for a prettier Sunday. Seventy-plus degrees, gentle sunlight filtered through the just-beginning-to-redden dogwood leaves and a drive to Charles City to visit Berkeley Plantation – it was perfect.

After hitting the road we stopped for brunch at The Boathouse and sampled one of their house-made bellini cocktails; freshly pureed peaches and lemon juice in the bottom of a berry-filled champagne flute presented with a split of sparkling wine for us to add to the glass ourselves.

The drinks served to us were unconventional in that The Boathouse used blackberries and raspberries for garnish, as well as a Spanish cava instead of the customary Italian prosecco, but they remained delicious nonetheless.

The original bellini cocktail was created in Venice, at Harry’s Bar, in 1945 by legendary barman Guiseppe Cipriani, who named his white peach and prosecco elixir after painter Giovanni Bellini, who used a lot of peachy-pink hues in his paintings.  

The bar, and the drink, remains famous in Venice to this day.

Prosecco is the name of the grape and the sparkling wine produced in Northern Italy. In Venice, these fizzy drinks are served from May to October exclusively (unless the place is for tourists), as the white peach goes out of season the end of September in Italy. Bars that serve the drink year round use a frozen white peach puree.

You can find frozen peach puree at Fresh Market in Richmond.
 
Original Bellini

1 shot pureed white peaches (the frozen concentrate is 10 percent added sugar - this is good. If using fresh peaches, add a little simple syrup to your puree.)
Squeeze of freshly-cut lemon wedge
Prosecco

Stir all ingredients in a shaker glass with ice and strain into a champagne flute. Garnish with a slice of peach or a lemon twist. If your prosecco is already chilled, simply add it to the other ingredients in the champagne flute and skip the stirring.

For a modern, slightly more potent variation on this drink, add a large dash of peach schnapps liqueur and/or peach eau de vie or brandy to the other ingredients and prepare as above.