The mineral water Perrier has its origins in a unique source with a long history. Legend has it that in 218 B.C., Hannibal and his army set up camp on the site now know as “Les Bouillens” (French for bubbling), while on their way to Rome after the Spanish campaign. The Romans came later and they were also the first to build baths at the site of the spring.
Towards the end of the 18th century, Dr Perrier took over the estate of Les Bouillens, which the Granier family had equipped with a bottling plant for mineral water earlier that century. Perrier was a respected physician and he wrote countless articles about the benefits of this mineral water, which he also prescribed to many of his patients. Oddly enough, it was an Englishman called Harmsworth who made Perrier world famous. He was also responsible for the development of the new distinctive bottle in 1903, the design of which was inspired by the Indian exercise clubs he used to stay in shape. Because of his acute business sense and good connections, Harmsworth managed to become the supplier to the British army in the then colony of India. This enabled him to reach many British subjects in due course. This success was followed by similar successes in England where Perrier even became the preferred water at Buckingham Palace.
The Perrier source is complicated from a geological point of view. The source is situated to the north of the small town of Vergèze on the way to Nimes and is surrounded by limestone. The carbon dioxide used in Perrier does not come from the same borehole as the Perrier water; the two are combined at a later stage of the process.
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