October 1st - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Alexander the Great defeated Darius II in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331.  Within a year he would be dead having drunk wine poisoned with Hellebore after an evening and day of drinking at Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon (people have conjectured).

• Shah Abbas I of Persia began his reign in 1588.  There are paintings of the Shah being handed wine to drink despite Islams prohibitions against it.

• Today is the feast day of St. Nicetius.  He was Bishop of Trier in Germany and replanted vineyards in the Moselle to restore the wine industry.

• Wine Region of Madeira was created in 1908.

September 22nd - 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.

• Anne of Cleves was born in 1515.  An episode of Blackadder, Lord Blackadder notes that his father ran through the family fortune on "... on wine, women and amateur dramatics until he had to make out a living by doing humorous impressions of Anne of Cleves”.

• In 1598 Playwright Ben Johnson killed actor Gabriel Spencer in a duel and was indicted for manslaughter.  He was acquitted. Ben Jonson, the English poet was born in 1572.  After the death of Henry IV of France, Jonson decided to re-join the Church of England and showed his renunciation of the Catholic faith by drinking a full chalice of Communion wine which at the time was supposed to only be drunk by the priests.  Also Drink to me only with thy eye and I will drink with mine… Or leave a kiss within the cup and I’ll not ask for wine.  To Celia…

• In 1794 this was the first day of the month of Vendémiaire in the French Revolutionary calendar. The day translates as grape day during the grape harvest month.

• It is one of the 3 feast days for Saint Phocas, the patron saint of farmers.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 21st - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Virgil who died in 19 BCE wrote the Georgics, whose second volume deals with viticulture matters and includes a description of early ice wines.

• Edward II of England died in 1327  His wedding feast with Isabella of France was celebrated with a fountain filled with spiced wine.

• Winston Cup winner, Richard Childress was born in 1945.  He owns Childress Vineyards in Yadkin Valley, North Carolina.

• Happy California Wine Month!

• The French have a saying, “ À la Saint-Matthieu, cueille le raisin si tu veux.” or At St. Matthew, pick the grapes if you like

• Happy International Grenache Day

September 20th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Robert of Geneva was elected Pope Clement VII in 1378.  He was the first of the Avignon Antipopes which brought us the delicious Chateauneuf-du-Papes.

• Ferdinand Magellan left with 270 sailors from Cadiz Spain in 1519 to circumnavigate the globe.  When provisioning his ships he paid more for Sherry than for weapons. This was perhaps the wrong choice as he was killed during the voyage by angry Filipinos.

• Italy’s Solopaca  and Malvasia delle Lipari DOCs were established in 1973.

• Baron Brisse who shared a bottle of wine from Alsace harvest of 1472, which had been given by the director of the Hospices de Strasbourg with Frederic Mistral and Victor Balaguer was born in 1813.

• Portugal’s Rota dos Vinhos do Dão was created in 1995.

• Happy California Wine Month!

• The French have a saying, “Gelée blanche pour Saint-Eustache grossit le raisin qui tache.“ or White jelly for Saint-Eustace magnifies the grape that stain.

September 19th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Cellar Dão was created in 1932 

• Adega Regional de Colares was created in 1934

• Disgraced restauranteur, Mario Batali was born in 1960.  He is owner of Babbo in NYC and Eataly’s throughout the world.  He is part owner of La Mozza in Tuscany.

• The Muscadet AOC was amended in 2001

• The Premier Cru des Coteaux du Layon AOC was created in 2003

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 18th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Titus Flavius Domitianus, Roman Emperor known as Domitian, who banned planting of vineyards in order to increase grain production in the Empire was executed in 96 CE.

• Philip II sometimes known as Philip Augustus was crowned in 1180.  He was known  holding the Battle of the Wines.

• Vinho do Dão becomes a protected DOC in Portugal in 1908.

• Vinho Verde becomes a protected DO in Portugal in 1908.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 17th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Hildegarde of Binge, German abbess, artist, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, visionary and composer, wrote Causae et Curae which recommended that wine be drunk daily to maintain good health, died in 1179. 

• Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, wealthy industrialist, horseman and tycoon was born in 1861.  He is known for hosting an eccentric horsed dinner where all the guests were seated on a horse and ate off of silver trays affixed to the saddles.  Guests also drank 1898 Krug Champagne from rubber tubes to iced bottles in their saddlebags.  The dinner was held at Louis Sherry’s restaurant.

• Restauranteur and winemaker Joe Bastianich was born in 1968.

• French winemaker, Didier Dagueneau died in 2008 when he crashed in an ultra light aircraft.  He achieved cult status for his Sauvignon Blanc wines from the Pouilly-Fumé section of the Loire.

• The Wine Museum in Pleven, Bulgaria opened in 2008.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 16th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Philip III of Navarre died in 1343.  He fell ill after having been injured by an arrow.  Alfonso XI’s doctors told him to change his diet, but his own doctor told him to keep eating meat and drinking wine.

• A cedulla signed by Phillip II of Spain in 1586 forbade the sale of any wine in Panama except that imported from Spain. (Apparently, the Peruvians were making some awesome stuff!)

• J.L.W. Thudichum and August Dupré experimented with Ploussard (Poulsard) and Enfariné harvested today in 1863, as reported in A Treatise on the origin, nature and varieties of Wine: being a complete manual of viticulture and oenology.

• In a letter from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of California, Berkeley, California dated 1892 provides a preface from F. T. Bioletti for the book, Wine. By G. Grazzi-Soncini It includes, “If this book should be of any use to the wine maker, and especially if it should call the attention of non-wine-dinking people to some of the uses and beauties of wine which they did not suspect, the translator will feel amply repaid for his trouble.”

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 15th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• One of the first known serial killers, Gilles de Rain was taken into custody in 1440.  Young victims were dressed in expensive clothing, given an extravagant meal and hippocras, a sweetened, spiced wine before being tortured, murdered and dismembered.

• The movie, Wine of Youth was released in 1924.

• Sherry, by The Four Seasons hits number one in the US.

• Happy California Wine Month!

• The French have a saying, “La rosée de Saint-Albin est, dit-on, rosée de vin.” or The dew of St. Albin is, it is said dewy with wine.

September 14th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was born in 1486 in the Electorate of Cologne. A German physician and polymath, his book De occult philosophy libra tres contained  cures for fevers that included herbs when steeped in wine.

• Dom Pierre Pérignon “inventor” of Champagne died in 1715.

• Arthur Wellsley, 1st Duke of Wellington died today in 1852.  He was known by his soldiers as a man who could subsist on cold bread and meat but always drank the best wine.  Often and entire bottle with his meal. 

• The Colline Saluzzesi DOC was created in 1996.  This wine region is located in the Cuneo section of Italy's Piedmont.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 13th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Frederic Mistral and Victor Balaguer, were surprised to be offered in the form of toast, by Baron Brisse, a bottle of wine from Alsace harvest of 1472, which had been given by the director of the Hospices de Strasbourg.

• Daniel Defoe, author, journalist and pamphleteer was born in 1660.  He often supported himself by working as a merchant of wine, hosiery and woolen goods.

• Pancho Campo, Spanish Master of Wine and educator was born in 1961.

• "Vins de Pays" was designated in 1968.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 12th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Francis I of France was born in 1494. During his reign he expanded the Chateau at Fontainebleau to include a fountain that gushed watered wine.

• Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Thomas Newton, Jr. in 1803 regarding an order for wine and cider but notes that British war ships “continue to impress our seamen”.

• Tom McDonald, pioneering New Zealand winemaker was born in 1907.

• The Gundlach-Bundschu Wine Company had their trademark published by the U.S. Patent Office in 1911.

• Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame died in 1993.  He established Raymond Burr Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley in 1966.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 11th - This Date in Wine History

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 Fijt, a Flemish Baroque painter known for creepy still life of hunting dogs and dead game but also responsible for beautiful flower paintings and food still lifes  such as A Lobster in a Porcelain Dish died in 1661. 

• The Barsac,  Chénas  and Moulin-à-vent AOCs were created in 1936.

• California's St. Helena AVA was designated in 1995.

• The Vermentino di Gallura DOCG was established in 1996.

• Spain's Rías Baixas DO was created in 1997.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 10th - This Date in Wine History

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.

Richard Grenville, English Lord, soldier, merchant fleet owner, privateer, colonizer and explorer died in 1591 in the Azores.  The Spanish captains described him as drinking  several glasses of wine, “take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in pieces and swallow them down, so that often the blood ran out of his mouth without any harm at all unto him…”

• Richard Grenville, English Lord, soldier, merchant fleet owner, privateer, colonizer and explorer died in 1591 in the Azores.  The Spanish captains described him as drinking  several glasses of wine, “take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in pieces and swallow them down, so that often the blood ran out of his mouth without any harm at all unto him…”

• The Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro or General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro founded to guarantee the quality of the product and fair pricing of Port Wine was established in 1756 by the Marquis of Pombal.

• In 1881, The Eighth District Agricultural Association awarded premiums on wine and liquors in Placerville, California.  Mrs. R. Chalmers won the awards for grape brandy, white wine, sweet wine and sherry, whereas the Kramp Brothers wine best red wine, dry wine and Port.

• Empress Elisabeth of Austria was assassinated in 1898. Prior to her death by an Italian anarchist, Elizabeth was obsessed with her weight and was thought to indulge in binge eating.  She is known to have to have visited restaurants incognito and would indulge in champagne, broiled chicken, salad and a considerable quantity of cake.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 9th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• The Basel, Switzerland council resolved in 1482 to present to to Duke Phillip of Savoy an honorable reception upon his arrival including a gift of 8 pitchers of wine, six sacks of oats and salmon.
• The London Chronicle date 1763 contains news from the Hague on the quality of wine being produced in Saxony.
• In a letter dated 1842 from Downing Street, London, Henry Goulburn requested the opinion of the wine trade regarding tariffs on Port wine.
• California was admitted to the union in 1850.  It is home of the largest number of wineries in the United States.
• Happy California Wine Month!

September 6th - This Date in Wine History

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.

• The town records of Marblehead, Massachusetts granted Moses Maverick the right to sell a tun (252 gallons) of wine to the inhabitants of the town in 1638.
• The Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of California received a shipments of Tinto Amarella grapes from the Tulare Station in 1892.  They were in good condition except “for a little mold.”
• It is the feast day of St. Magnus of Füssen.  He is the patron saint of crops and against pests.
• Happy California Wine Month!

September 4th - This Date in Wine History

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 a report dated 1894, Charles Bundschu of Gundlach Bundschu presents the financial report for the Viticultural Palace at the California Midwinter International Exposition.
• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular indicates the “Egyptian Monarch” set sail from London in 1887 loaded with wine to be shipped to New York.  A year later the ship would sink (hopefully not with wine aboard).
• Apremont AOC was named in 1973.  Wines from Apremont in Savoie are made using the Jacquére grape.
• Happy California Wine Month!

September 3rd - This Date in Wine History

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.

• San Marino the world’s oldest republic still in existence was founded in 301 by Saint Marinus.  Their leading agricultural exports are wine and cheese.
• The U.S. Government submitted a remittance to the estate of Filippo Mazzei in 1822.  Mazzei was an Italian physician, importer pamphleteer and friend of Thomas Jefferson who with Jefferson established the first commercial winery in Virginia.
• The Mamertino DOC was established in 2004.  This wine region is from Messina, Sicily.
• The French have a saying, “À la saint Grégoire, taille la vigne pour boire” or On St. Gregory’s Day cut the vine to drink.
• Happy California Wine Month!

September 2nd - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Francesco Landini, an Italian musician and instrument maker died in 1397.  One of the records that has survived about him are receipts for wine drunk by himself and Andreas da Florentia over the time tuned an organ.
• The city council of Baza, Spain in 1521 banned the sale of wine in taverns to prevent drunkenness.
• G.H. Mumm filed an application for a trademark in 1876.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "McLaren Vale" was registered in 1997.
• Happy California Wine Month!

September 1st - This Date in Wine History

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.

• Nicholas Breakspear known as #Pope #AdrianIV died in 1159  when he #choked on a #fly in his #wine
• Louis François Joseph de Bourbon later Prince de Conti was born in 1734. He inherited the Romanée- Conti vineyard from his father and owned it until the National Convention stripped him of his property in 1793.
• The Dolcetto d'Acqui DOC, Dolcetto d'Ovada DOC and the Freisa d'Asti DOC were created in 1972.  These wine regions are all located in Italy’s Piedmont region.  Also in 1972 the Monica di Sardegna DOC was created.
• Happy California Wine Month!
• The French have a saying, “En septembre, la bruine, est toujours bonne à la vigne” or loosely, “September drizzles are always good to the vineyard.”