Style and flavour

Rich and port-like, with ripe dark fruit, cocoa and coffee notes over a fortified wine base. The quinine gives a firm, drying bitterness that keeps the sweetness in check and lingers on the finish.

Key ingredients

  • red wine (Grenache noir, Carignan)
  • mistelle (grape must fortified with alcohol)
  • cinchona bark (quinine)
  • plant extracts

History

Byrrh began with two brothers from the mountain village of Corsavy, Simon and Pallade Violet, who travelled the Roussillon plain selling fabric, haberdashery and wine before settling in Thuir. They registered their business there on 14 September 1866. Simon devised a blend of Roussillon wines flavoured with plant extracts and cinchona bark, first sold as a 'hygienic tonic wine with cinchona' through pharmacies, grocers and cafés.

The tonic framing caused trouble: the pharmacists of Montpellier sued the brothers for unfair competition, and they lost the right to use the word cinchona, which was reserved for pharmaceutical use. The Byrrh trademark was registered in Perpignan on 10 February 1873. The origin of the odd name is uncertain; one story holds that the letters were simply codes marked on rolls of cloth in the brothers' shop.

After Simon's death in 1891 his son Lambert completed vast new cellars, opened in 1892 and linked to the railway by a depot attributed to Gustave Eiffel. By 1910 the firm employed 750 people and produced more than 30 million litres a year. In 1951 the cellars filled what is still described as the largest oak vat in the world, holding just over one million litres.

The family sold the business in 1961 to CDC, the group behind Dubonnet and Cinzano, and Byrrh passed to Pernod Ricard in 1976. It is still made in the Thuir cellars, which also produce Dubonnet and Suze. In the United States it is imported by Haus Alpenz.

Culture

Byrrh is remembered for roughly half a century of striking poster advertising. The Caves Byrrh in Thuir are now open to visitors, with tours run through the local tourist office.

How to serve

Serve chilled over ice with a strip of lemon peel, or lengthen with tonic water. It also pairs well with blue cheese. For more ideas, see our tonic wine recipes.