×

Lillet

Lillet is a French wine–based aperitif from Podensac. Classed as an aromatised wine within EU law, it is a blend of 85% Bordeaux region wines (Semillon for the blanc and for the rosé, Merlot for the rouge) and 15% macerated liqueurs, mostly citrus liqueurs (peels of sweet oranges from Spain and Morocco and peels of bitter green oranges from Haiti). The mix is then stirred in oak vats until blended. During the aging process, Lillet is handled as a Bordeaux wine (undergoing fining, racking, filtering, etc.). In the original Kina Lillet formulation (so named with respect to its status as a quinquina), quinine liqueur made of cinchona bark from Peru was included among its ingredients. "Lillet" belongs to a family of aperitifs known as tonic wines because of the addition of quinine. In 1872, the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet, distillers and merchants of wines and spirits, founded their company La Maison Lillet in Podensac, south of Bordeaux, France. The idea of making aperitifs in Bordeaux came from Father Kermann, a doctor who left Brazil at the beginning of Louis XVI's reign. He returned to France and made Bordeaux his home, where he created liqueurs and fortifiers using herbs like quinine. During that time, Bordeaux became one of the most important places for the European wine business.: 13–29  It was also France's main harbour for products imported from the Caribbean islands.

Source: Wikipedia