Two brothers, one recipe, one commercial empire
In 1866, brothers Simon and Pallade Violet developed a quinquina-based apéritif wine in Thuir, quinquina being a bark imported from South America and prized at the time for its tonic properties. Named Byrrh, the drink caught on quickly, helped by an advertising strategy aggressive for its era, posters and billboards that made the Byrrh name one of the most visible in France around the turn of the 20th century.
To keep up with demand, the Violet family built vast cellars in Thuir, now recognised as the largest wine-cellar complex in the world by volume. In 1950 the Foudre Byrrh was completed there, an oak cask holding roughly a million litres, still certified by Guinness World Records as the largest oak cask on Earth. The fortune this built let the family construct the nearby Château d'Aubiry, a Belle Époque residence set in an English-style park.