August 29th - This Date in Wine History

Klimt-Salome.jpg

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.

  • John the Baptist is thought to have been beheaded in 28/9AD.  A drunk King Herod promised the head of his stepdaughter, Salome, after she danced for him. John publicly reproved both Herod and Herodius for divorcing their spouses and then marrying each other. 
  • Stricter wine purity laws were passed in 1985 by the Austrian government in the wake of the scandal surrounding diethylene glycol contaminated wines.
  • Coteaux de Saumur AOC was revised in 2002.  These wines semi-sweet and made of Chenin Blanc.

January 21st - This Date in Wine History

Bulgarian Women celebrating Babinden


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.


  • Pope Paschal II died in 1118.  During his reign he appointed a Bishop to oversee the territories of Greenland and Vinland (Newfoundland).
  • Thomas Munson, the American horticulturist who's work with grape rootstock led to phylloxera-resistant stocks died in 1913.
  • Happy Babinden!  This Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian holiday celebrates midwifery and includes Young Mother’s Feast which includes grilled chicken and wine.