Lillet Rouge

Lillet Rouge is the red-wine version of Lillet — the Bordeaux aperitif wine made by blending wine with macerated fruit liqueurs. Where the celebrated Blanc is built on white Bordeaux, the Rouge is built mostly on red grapes, Merlot foremost, and steeped with the same family of sweet-and-bitter citrus and fruit macerations. Deep ruby-garnet in the glass, it is rounder, fruitier and a shade sweeter than its pale sibling, at around 17 percent alcohol. It smells and tastes of ripe red and black fruit, candied orange, honey and a gentle bitter-bark lift, and is drunk chilled on ice with a slice of orange as an aperitif or used as a fruity modifier in cocktails.