Dubonnet (UK: /djuːˈbɒneɪ/, US: /ˌdjuːbəˈneɪ/,[1][2] French: [dybɔnɛ]) is a sweet, aromatised wine-based quinquina, often enjoyed as an aperitif.[3] It is a blend of fortified wine, herbs, and spices (including a small amount of quinine),[4] with fermentation being stopped by the addition of alcohol.It is currently produced in France by Pernod Ricard, and in the United States by Heaven Hill Distilleries of Bardstown, Kentucky.[6] Four main ingredients are used: Dubonnet was first sold in 1846 by Joseph Dubonnet, in response to a competition run by the French Government to find a way of persuading French Foreign Legionnaires in North Africa to drink quinine.[3] Dubonnet is commonly mixed with lemonade or bitter lemon, and forms part of many cocktails.
Dubonnet advertisement, 1907 —
Napoleon
and
Madame de Pompadour
share a bottle. The caption, idiomatically rendered, runs something akin to this: (Napoleon Bonaparte to Mme. the Marchioness de Pompadour) ''My dear Marchioness, you must be perished with the cold. Do, pray, alight from your carriage and take a glass of Dubonnet. If, at the time, I had but had a few thousand bottles my retreat from Russia would have been metamorphosed into a triumphal procession!'' The scene is set during
Fat Tuesday
of
carnival
; hence the characters are disguised people roleplaying.