April 21st - This Date in Wine History

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Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature "This Date In Wine History," we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Parilia, a Roman agricultural festival honoring the founding of Rome by Romulus was celebrated with beverage burranica, a combination of milk and sapa (boiled wine), after drinking this the festival would draw to a close when shepherds ran through a ceremonial fire three times.
  • Dutch painter Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten was born in Haarlem in 1630.  He is known for painting “Still Life with Oysters” featuring a glass of whitewine as accompaniment.
  • Virginia's Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace AVA was designated in 1987.

April 7th - This Date in Wine History

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Jan van Riebeeck

Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature "This Date In Wine History," we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Jan van Riebeeck, who planted in the first grapes in Cape Town was born in 1619.
  • California's Yorkville Highlands AVA was designated in 1998.
  • Spain's Penedés DO was created in 2002.

April 6th - This Date in Wine History

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Getariako Txakolina

Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature "This Date In Wine History," we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Jan van Riebeeck established a supply camp near the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.  This would become Cape Town and van Riebeeck would plant the first vineyard there.
  • The British Medical Journal for December 13, 1862 reports on the care Margaret McCaffrey by the physicians at Liverpool Northern Hospital as she suffered from double bronchopneumonia.  She was treated from January 1st 1862 until April 6th by several glasses of port wine with other medicines.  She recovered.
  • Spain's Chacolí de Getaria-Getariako Txakolina DO was created in 1990.

March 27th - This Date in Wine History

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Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature This Date In Wine History, we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Simon de Brion, later known as Pope Martin IV was born in 1210 (or 1220).  In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees the pope in purgatory for his fondness for Lake Bolsena eels and Vernaccia wine.
  • Abraham Mignon, artist of painter of still life and flower images including “Still Life with Fruit and a Goldfinch” died in 1679.
  • The movie, Wine, Women and Song debuted in 1933.

March 10th - This Date in Wine History

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Hugh Johnson

Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature This Date In Wine History, we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Johann Rudolf Glauber was born and died on this date in 1604 and 1670.  He was a German-Dutch alchemist who wrote about improvements in wine making and is considered an early chemist or chemical engineer.
  • Paul Draper winemaker at Ridge Vineyards in California was born in 1936. 
  • Hugh Johnson OBE, British author and wine expert was born in 1939.

February 12th - This Date in Wine History

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Castello Plan of New Amsterdam

Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature This Date In Wine History, we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • In 1502 Vasco de Gama set sail for his second voyage to India.  His ships stopped in Madeira to pick up water (a likely story).
  • In 1664, Dominie Blom, of New Amsterdam, petitioned the magistrates of Wildwyck: "that the public, sinful and scandalous Bacchanalian days of Bastenseen (Shrove Tuesday), coming down from the heathens from their idol Bacchus, the god of wine and drunkenness, being also a leaven of Popery, inherited from the pagans, which the Apostle, in I Cor. 5, admonishes true Christians to expurge, May , while near at hand, be prescribed in this place by your Honors.”
  • It is the feast day of St. Julian the Hospitaller, the patron saint of innkeepers.

January 27th - This Date in Wine History

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Shah Abbas I of Persia with wine boy by Muhammad Qasim

Wine has a long established history of being our drink of choice for celebrating, entertaining, and savoring life; but it didn't start out that way. From the invention of the barrel to the designation of the separate viticultural areas, wine has a long and sorted history.  In our daily feature This Date In Wine History, we share an event of critical importance in wine history.

  • Shah Abbas I of Persia was born in 1571.  There are paintings of the Shah being handed wine to drink despite Islam's prohibitions against it.
  • In 1659, Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first known wine in South Africa.
  • California's Stags Leap District AVA was designated in 1989.