December 2nd - 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.

  • Hernán Cortés, Conquistador, Governor and Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca died in 1577.  Legend has it that he and his soldiers drank all of their wine so fast after arrival in the new world that one of his first acts as Governor was to require the planting of vineyards throughout New Spain.

  • Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, infamously known as the Marquis de Sade died in 1814.  In The 120 Day of Sodom he wrote: “Le duc imita bientôt avec Bande-au-ciel la petite infamie de son ancien ami et il paria, quoique le vit fût énorme, d'avaler trois bouteilles de vin de sens froid pendant qu'on l’enculerait”. or “The Duke soon imitated his old friend's little infamy and wagered that, enormous as Invictus' prick might be, he could calmly down three bottles of wine while lying embuggered upon it.”  He sounds nice.

  • The Jurisdication of Saint-Emilion, France was named a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1999

  • The South African wine-making co-operative,Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt, became KWV Ltd. in 2002

  • It is the feast day of St. Bibiana.  She is the patron saint of hangovers.