A Tonic For Good Health

Once upon a time, back at the beginning of the last century, a large dose of quinine in your drink was trendy and desirable in France. There were now forgotten wine and quinine drinks produced all over the country and they were madly popular. 

Poster from the 1930s, advertising Bourin's Quinina Vouvray and referring to the product as an 'exquisite aperitif'.

Who now has heard of Quinina Vouvray, made with Vouvray wine and quinine by Ernest Bourin in Tours? These days the closest most of us get to a quinine infused drink is Schweppes Indian Tonic.

Quinine bark was first imported to Europe from Peru in the early 17th century by Jesuit monks, who were well aware of its reputation for treating fevers, which they had learnt from the Peruvian indigenous people. It was initially known in Europe as 'Jesuit powder'. Quinine is actually two related chemicals, which were being extracted on an industrial scale by the 1830s. Some time before the Second World War one of the chemicals was synthesised, but it was not fully synthesised until 2001.

Byrrh and Lillet on the shelf in my local supermarket.

The best known use of quinine medicinally is as a treatment for malaria, a mosquito born disease that was still a problem in many areas of France in the early 20th century. Many World War One troops in the trenches suffered from malaria, and wetlands like the Brenne and certain areas of the Loire Valley and Atlantic coastal areas were partially drained to increase farmland and eradicate malaria.

But quinine was also famously used in tonic drinks. The British used it as an aromatic in fizzy water, but the French opted for adding it to wine. The health benefits of quinine were well known and accepted for centuries, but it was only in the 20th century that real concerns about the consequences of overuse were acted upon. Over consumption of quinine can cause a dangerous reduction of blood platelets, blood clots, heart attacks, deafness (in unborn babies), disruption to the immune system and allergic reactions. The levels of quinine used before the Second World War in tonic drinks were about four times the dose that is considered safe these days.

Poster from 1936 advertising Bourin's Quinina Vouvray, claiming to give you strength and strengthen your appetite. Courtesy of a local collector.

Quinina Vouvray was marketed as an 'exquisite' aperitif and was said to give you a healthy apetite. It was sold in a no nonsense litre bottle, with a label printed in red that was instantly recognisable in its day. Ernest Bourin's factory was in rue Ledru-Rollin in Tours, near the hospital. I don't know if the building still exists. Many of the buildings in this street have been demolished and replaced with modern apartment blocks.

Much was made of the extreme care taken with hygeine in the product's manufacture, and how it was matured in the latest fifteen thousand litre capacity glazed cement vats. An article from the 1930 Revue géographique et industrielle de France describes how bundles of Kalissaya quinine bark of the finest quality were delivered to the factory and mechanically crushed before being macerated in Vouvray wine. The name Kalissaya suggests that the quinine in this case was coming from Bolivia, but I haven't been able to confirm that. The end product is described as topaz coloured.

Quinina Vouvray may be long forgotten, but there are still related drinks with similar histories on the shelves. Byrrh, Dubonnet and Lillet are the best known and most widely available. In the 1930s Byrrh, made in the Pyrenees, was the most popular aperitif in the world. Lillet, which comes from Bordeaux, was a favourite of the Duchess of Windsor, and is a mixture of wine, bitter orange liqueur and quinine. I remember being offered it years ago by Gascon friends that we stayed with near Giverny. I liked it, but it is clearly not a madly popular drink these days as I have never been offered it since. Dubonnet was originally made by a doctor on the site where the Opera Garnier now sits and was intended to be issued to the Foreign Legion for medicinal purposes, until the doctor's wife served it as an aperitif one day to her friends, who loved it. It contains a mixture of strong flavoured herbs and spices to disguise the bitterness of the quinine. All three brands are owned by Pernod Ricard these days.