February 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.

• 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.

February 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.

• Samuel Pepys reports going to the Nag’s Head Tavern with several old acquaintances and drank a bottle of sack (Sherry) with them in 1664.  The term “sack” comes from the Spanish “saca” which means extraction from a Solera.

• Carl Michael Bellman, a Swedish composer, musician, poet, and songwriter was born in 1740.  He is best known for Freedman’s songs and Freedman’s epistles which included themes of pleasure, drunkenness and sex.

• The Alsace - Klevener of Heiligenstein AOC was created in 1997 Rose of Savignin is a permitted grape for this region.

• It is the feast day of St. John de Britto, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary to India who evangelized by adopting the dress and diet of the the people by abstaining from all  meat products and wine. 

December 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.

• The King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce provided two casks of wine to Sir Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March in 1310.

• Christina, Queen of Sweden was born in 1626. The celebration of her coronation included fountains filled with wine for three days in the market place.

• New Jersey ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1787.  It is home to the Central Delaware Valley, Outer Coastal Plains and Warren Hills viticultural areas.

• E.W. Hilgard of Mission San Jose found his Cinsault turbid, with a markedly aromatic bouquet, medium body, low astringency, and medium acid: slightly suspicious in quality.  He then racked and pasteurized the wine for safety.

• Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt and founder of Silverado Vineyards was born in 1933.

• It is the feast day of Saint Sebastian who’s skull is used as a wine cup on his feast day. The skull cap relic is located in Germany.

• James Beard award winning author of "What to Drink With What You Eat", Andrew Dornenburg was born in 1958.

• The movie, May  Wine debuted in 1991.

• Zhen Wang Huang, aka Rudy Kurniawan was convicted in 2013.  He is a wine collector who was convicted of wine fraud by buying Burgundy wine from negociants and relabelling them are more valuable wines, such as those the Domaine Romanée-Conti.

October 23rd - 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.

• Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden was born in 1636. At one point, her grandson, Charles XII encountered her while he was inebriated.  She gave him a withering look and turned her back on him.  long look and then turned her back to him. Charles emptied his cup and saying: “My Gracious Lady Grandmother is pleased to forgive me. From hereafter I will never more drink wine”.

• François Clicquot died in 1805, leaving his wife Nicole Barbe Ponsardin as La Veuve (the widow)  Cliquot.

• English writer and critic, George Saintsbury, author of Notes on a Cellar-Book was born in 1845.

• Baron Bettino Ricasoli, the Father of Chianti Classico, died in 1880.

• California's Temecula Valley AVA was designated in 1984.

April 30th - 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.

• St. John Baptist de La Salle was born in Reims, France in 1651.  He is the patron saint of teachers and the founder of the first Catholic schools.  He was the son of Nicolle de Moet Brouillet of the family that founded  Moët & Chandon.
• Louisiana was admitted to the Union in 1812.  It is home to the Mississippi Delta viticulturel area.
• The French Foreign Legion celebrate the Battle of Camarón (1863) during the French intervention in Mexico with an excess of cheap French red wine and the wooden hand of Jean Danjou
• It is Walpurgis Night in Northern Europe.  It is supposed to be a night that witches meet and is celebrated with bonfires and other festivities, in particular Finland and Sweden which features Champagne or other sparkling wine.
• The French have a saying, « La pluie, le jour de Saint-Robert, de bon vin remplira ton verre. » which translates to (more or less) “If it rains on St. Robert’s day good wine will fill your glass.”

February 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. 

• 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 in Massachusetts.  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.

February 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.

• Samuel Pepys reports going to the Nag’s Head Tavern with several old acquaintances and drank a bottle of sack (Sherry) with them in 1664.
• Carl Michael Bellman, a Swedish composer, musician, poet, and songwriter was born in 1740.  He is best known for Fredman’s songs and Fredman’s epistles which included themes of pleasure, drunkenness, and sex.
• The Alsace - Klevener of Heiligenstein AOC was created in 1997.
• It is the feast day of St. John de Britto, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary to India who evangelized by adopting the dress and diet of the people by abstaining from all meat products and wine. 

December 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.

• The King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce provided two casks of wine to Sir Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March in 1310.
• Christina, Queen of Sweden was born in 1626. The celebration of her coronation included fountains filled with wine for three days in the marketplace.
• E.W. Hilgard of Mission San Jose found his Cinsaut turbid, with a markedly aromatic bouquet, medium body, low astringency, and medium acid: slightly suspicious in quality.  He then racked and pasteurized the wine for safety.
• James Beard award-winning author of "What to Drink With What You Eat", Andrew Dornenburg was born in 1958.
• The movie, May Wine debuted in 1991.
• It is the feast day of Saint Sebastian who’s skull is used as a wine cup on his feast day. The skull cap relic is located in Germany.

November 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.

• Charles Collé the French dramatist and songwriter died in 1783.  He wrote for his patron, the Duke or Orleans with jovial and bawdy often on the subjects of love and wine.
• In 1916, the Swedish schooner, the Jonkoping, heading for Finland was sunk by a German submarine. The ship was discovered and 2500 bottles of champagne were recovered and found to be in excellent condition.
• It is the feast day of Saint Martin de Porres.  He is the patron saint of Lima, Peru and innkeepers who have poured many a dram of wine and whisky.

April 30th - 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.

• St. John Baptist de La Salle was born in Reims, France in 1651.  He is the patron saint of teachers and the founder of the first Catholic schools.  He was the son of Nicolle de Moet Brouillet of the family that founded Moët & Chandon.
• The French Foreign Legion celebrate the Battle of Camarón (1863) during the French intervention in Mexico with an excess of cheap French red wine and the wooden hand of Jean Danjou
• It is Walpurgis Night in Northern Europe.  It is supposed to be a night that witches meet and is celebrated with bonfires and other festivities, in particular Finland and Sweden which features Champagne or other sparkling wine.

November 3rd - This Date in Wine History

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St. Martin de Porres

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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.

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• In 1916, the Swedish schooner, the Jonkoping, heading for Finland was sunk by a German submarine. The ship was discovered and 2500 bottles of champagne were recovered and found to be in excellent condition.
• It is the feast day of Saint Martin de Porres.  He is the patron saint of innkeepers who have poured many a dram of wine and whisky.