aperitif

YARMOUTH 4.45 SIMBA SAMBA 5.20 AL SUHAIL 5.55 ROBERT FITZROY 6.25 THE THROSTLES 6.55 IFTON 7.30 MORETTI 8.00 LALANIA CHEPSTOW 5.00 MARENGO 5.35 SO NEAR SO FARHH 6.10 MAXIMILIUS 6.40 JACKSONFIRE 7.10 PASS THE GIN 7.45 MAJOR VALENTINE 8.15 UNION ROSE DOUBLE: APERITIF and MOJITO

Aldi's Italian Aperitif, Aperini (PS6.99), infused with orange, rhubarb, vanilla and an abundance of herbs and spices also took a bronze medal, while Aldi's Specially Selected Creme de Cassis (PS6.99) was awarded gold.

Number two aperitif involved three big pieces of scallops topped with caviar with beetroot foam, which added flavor and color to the presentation.

Boeve's restaurant can't serve gin, so he uses Cappelletti, a Campari-like wine aperitif manufactured in northeast Italy, Cocchi Rosa, a wine aperitif from northwest Italy, and France's sweet red Dolin vermouth.

Quady Winery NV "Vya" Sweet Vermouth Aperitif (California; $25)

:: DROP SHOT A fruity aperitif that tastes "like a garden at dusk", The Wingfield (PS37, 70cl, www.harveynichols.com) takes it's name from Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, who pioneered lawn tennis in the 1870s and changed the face of the British Summer.

Her daily consumption always included a special lunch-time aperitif of gin and Dubonnet prepared by her senior page, 'Backstairs Billy' Tallon (a Geordie lad made good) as well as a decentsized Grouse whisky before dinner every evening.

Most experts recommend that older adults cap their alcohol intake at no more than one drink per day (one standard drink = 12 ounces of beer or ale; 1.5 ounces of hard liquor; five ounces of wine; five ounces of sherry, liqueur or aperitif).

Set to launch on 1 August, the night will start with an aperitif followed by a three-course menu paired with grape beverages, followed by a dessert cocktail, and will be served across three different venues.

Heston is playing Cupid and hidden within the rose petals is the aperitif to get the whole party started.

In addition to serving with food, this wine makes a superior social sipper or aperitif.

New York's Dushan Zaric is head mixologist, presiding over an array of imaginative drinks--some on tap or bottled inhouse --including hard-to-find aperitif creations and house-made draft sodas.

The "royal tea cup" mixes strawberries, rose petals, PG Tips 'The Rich One' tea, optional gin and sparkling wine, cucumber, apple juice, elderflower and mint, and is described as perfect for a garden party, with afternoon tea or as an aperitif. Other cocktails set to help the nation celebrate include the regal refresher, the princely punch, pear for the heir and the baby shower smoothie made with a raspberry gin liqueur.

The 20th century avant garde surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel once plaintively observed, "The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time." Bun uel's life spanned the invention and meteoric rise of the aperitif, its heyday, and ultimately its bemoaned descent.

Saturday afternoon race meetings are now just an aperitif to the mayhem we see in any town centre the same night.