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.Olivier Londeix. Lillet 1862–1985 Le pari d'un entreprise girondine. Presses universitaires de Bordeaux. It was also France's main harbour for products imported from the Caribbean islands.
