March 4th - 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.

  • Frederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany in 1152.  He died during  a swim in the Saleph River during the third Crusade and his soldiers tried to preserve his body in a cask of vinegar.  It didn’t work.

  • Charles Dibdin, a British composer, musician, writer and actor was born in 1745.  He is famous for the song and pantomine, The vineyard revels.

  • Vermont was admitted to the union in 1791.  It’s first commercial winery opened in 1997. (there are currently 68 wineries in the state) 

  • Oh, the humanity!  The Hindenberg had its maiden voyage in 1936.  Before the famous crash that ended zeppelin flights the Zeppelin Company provided food and drinks for the passengers including Zeltinger Rothlay Auslese, Moulin à Vent and Mumm, Cordon Rouge.

  • The V. Sattui Winery in Napa Valley was opened to the public in 1976.

February 11th - 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.

  • Emperor Claudius’ heir Britannicus is thought to have been poisoned by Nero in AD 55 by poisoning the water used to cool Britannicus’ wine.  The water had been previously tasted and found safe.

  • Carl Michael Bellman, a Swedish composer, musician, poet, and songwriter died in 1795.  He is best known for Fredman’s songs and Fredman’s epistles which included themes of pleasure, drunkenness and sex.

  • Lydia Maria Child was born in 1802.  She was an abolitionist, novelist, and activist for women’s and native American rights.  She is famous for writing “Over the River and Through the Wood” and the American Frugal Housewife which included recipes for food and cures that include wine as well as for wines themselves.

  • The term Eiswin was coined on this day in 1830 to describe the wines of the 1829 harvest in Bingen-Dromersheim. 

  • William Thomas Brande died in 1866.  A chemist, he was the first to be able to calculate the alcohol content of  wine, cider and ale.  He also believed that distilled spirits were toxic, while wine and beer, wholesome.

  • Seyssel AOC was named in 1942.

November 19th - 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.

  • A report from The Present State of Europe, Volume 17 (1706) indicates that the British soldiers are greatly recovered and had received gifts of refreshments from the King of Portugal that included 20 pipes of wine as well as oranges and lemons.

  • Vermont established rules regarding wine measures in 1839.

  • California's Guenoc Valley AVA was designated in 1981.  British Actress Lilly Langtry and courtesan, once owned a winery in the valley.

  • Spain's Vinos de Madrid DO was created in 1990.

  • Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt Disney, died in 2013.  She along with her husband, owned Silverado Vineyards.

April 11th - 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. 

  • George Canning, British statesman and son of a failed Irish wine merchant was born in 1770. 
  • Percy Lavon Julian, an American chemist was born in 1899.  A former colleague from Howard University and released letters that Julian had sent him from Vienna which covered subjects such as wine, pretty Viennese women, music and chemical experiments.
  • Ivor Spencer-Thomas inventor of “FizzIt” which turned still wine into sparkling was born in 1907
  • Thomas Harris, creator of the character Hannibal Lecter best for know for eating  a census taker’s liver with a big Amarone was born in 1940.

January 9th - 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.

  • Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. It is home to the Western Connecticut Highlands and Southeastern New England viticultural areas.
  • Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was given a state funeral in 1806.  He died several months earlier at the battle of Trafalgar but was preserved in a barrel of Brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh.
  • Dave Matthews Band frontman, Dave Matthews was born in 1967.  He owns Blenheim Vineyards in Albemarle, Virginia.
  • The Barbera d'Asti DOC, Barbera del Monferrato DOC and Rubino di Cantavenna DOC were created in 1970.
  • The Bianco Valdinievole DOC was established in 1976.
  • The Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC was created in 1985.
  • The Rosso Conero Reserve DOCG designation were established in 2004.

April 11th - This Date in Wine History

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Death Head Moth

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.

  • George Canning, British statesman and son of a failed Irish wine merchant was born in 1770. 
  • Birthday of Thomas Harris, creator of the character Hannibal Lecter best for know for eatinga census taker’s liver with a big Amarone.
  • Ivor Spencer-Thomas, the Welsh inventor of “FizzIt” which turned still wine into sparkling was born in 1907.

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.

December 22nd - This Date in Wine History

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Flag of Texas

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 British House of Lords voted in 1660 on an addition to a rule about wine licenses to prevent the mixing of wines to vitiate (adulterate) them.
  • Texas' Texas Hill Country AVA was designated in 1988.