Oct 19, 2014

Vin Mariani, the Bordeaux wine with coca leaves

 Litography by Jules Chéret, 1894

 The ethanol in the wine extracted the cocaine from the coca leave, altering the drink's effect. The Vin Mariani contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce, (0.028 l) but the exported drink contained 7.2 mg per ounce to compete with the similar drinks in the United States.


 Some famous people and royalties liked the Mariani wine, Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Saint Pius X, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Thomas Edison and Ulysses S. Grant, among others.

Pope Leo XIII used to carry a bottle with him all the time.
He awarded Angelo Mariani (the producer) with a Vatican gold medal.


This patent medicine was created by a French chemist, Angelo Mariani in 1863 and was the most famous Coca wine of it's time.

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