– Promotion and Testimonials:
– Mariani marketed Vin Mariani for various ailments, emphasizing its ability to boost energy, appetite, and mood.
– It was promoted as a performance enhancer for creatives and athletes and had endorsements from notable figures of the time.
– Mariani collected over four thousand testimonials from European celebrities, including royals, politicians, artists, and writers.
– Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X were consumers of Vin Mariani.
– Other endorsers included Thomas Edison, Ulysses S. Grant, Jules Méline, Kyrle Bellew, Émile Zola, and more.
– Inspiration for Coca-Cola:
– Vin Mariani inspired John S. Pemberton’s 1885 coca wine drink, which later became Coca-Cola.
– Pemberton’s recipe closely resembled Vin Mariani, with coca leaves and kola nut for caffeine.
– When faced with prohibition legislation, Pemberton created a non-alcoholic version named Coca-Cola.
– Coca-Cola was named after its stimulant ingredients, coca leaves, and kola nuts.
– Modern Developments:
– Angelo Mariani did not pass down the recipe, leading to the discontinuation of Vin Mariani after his death.
– The product was reintroduced in 2014 by Christophe Mariani, not related to the original Mariani family.
– Christophe Mariani discussed commercializing Mariani cocawine in Bolivia with President Evo Morales.
– Gallery:
– Pope Leo XIII carried a hip flask of Vin Mariani and awarded a Vatican gold medal to Angelo Mariani.
– Various medals related to Vin Mariani were created, including one by Louis-Oscar Roty.
– French historian Louis Duchesne was associated with Vin Mariani.
– References:
– Various sources provide historical information on Vin Mariani, including its impact and cultural significance.
– Books like “A Brief History of Cocaine” and “Cocaine: Scientific and Social Dimensions” discuss Vin Mariani’s influence.
– Articles like “Vin Mariani” in “Profitable Advertising” shed light on the product’s promotion strategies.
Vin Mariani (French: Mariani wine) was a coca wine and patent medicine created in the 1860s by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist from the island of Corsica. Mariani became intrigued with coca and its medical and economic potential after reading Paolo Mantegazza's paper on the effects of coca. Between 1863 and 1868 Mariani started marketing a coca wine called Vin Tonique Mariani (à la Coca du Pérou) which was made from Bordeaux wine and coca leaves.
 Advertising bill for the wine Mariani, lithograph of Jules Chéret, 1894 | |
| Type | Coca wine |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1863 |
| Related products | Coca-Cola |
The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves. It originally contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine (211.2 mg/L), but Vin Mariani that was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce (253.4 mg/L), in order to compete with the higher cocaine content of similar drinks in the United States. Advertisements for Vin Mariani claimed that it would restore health, strength, energy and vitality.