Monaco's streets are lined with bitter orange trees, more than five hundred of them, and the fruit is far too sour to eat. For generations families along this coast have answered the problem the sensible way: by soaking it in wine. Vin d'orange is the result, an amber aperitif that tastes of marmalade, warm spice and late afternoon. It is made in winter, when the bitter oranges are harvested in January and February, and opened in summer, which neatly puts the first bottles on the table around the Grand Prix.

Making it requires a jar, some patience and no skill at all. Recently a Monaco distillery began turning the principality's own street oranges into a liqueur, but the homemade version remains the house aperitif of the region, and the one grandmothers argue about.

The steeped wine

Ingredients

• 3 bitter oranges
• 1 sweet orange
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 1/4 cups (250 g) sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) eau de vie or brandy
• 2 bottles (1.5 liters) dry rosé wine

To serve

Ingredients

• 1 handful ice cubes
• 1 strip orange peel

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