Recycling Cape Riesling

While 2009 was a comet vintage for SA whites, 2008 was an altogether more modest vintage with many Cape Rieslings (Crouchen Blanc) now tasting like something from the bottom of the vase holding the dried arrangement. Salvation from an unlikely source: Beyond Nose to Tail: a kind of British cooking part II (Bloomsbury, 2007) by Fergus Henderson and Justin Piers Gellatly starts off on a most un-British note. Behind the injunction “something to get the juices going” is a recipe for a bicyclette, so named “as old men drink it and then wobble home on their bikes” in Italy. Harry’s Bar in Venice refuses to serve it, but then the canals would be even more polluted if they were full of old men and their bikes.

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The recipe: In a wineglass pour a measure of Campari, add some ice and top up with dry white wine. With trial and error, you shall find your chosen strength.