March 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.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine’s marriage to Louis VII of France in 1152.  Her dowry included Aquitaine including the vineyards or Bordeaux, which remained hers through the marriage and afterwards.

• Julio Gallo was born in 1910.

• The AOC Alsace Grand Cru Sylvaner and Alsace Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergheim were named in 2005.

• Wine Road of The Samurai, a documentary about 34 Samurai (who were also known as The Last Samurais) delegation sent by the Japanese government to France at the end of Edo era was released in 2006.

• Happy Nowruz!  The Persian New Year celebration goes back to the reign of mythic king Jamshid who saved humanity from a killer winter and also created wine.  The holiday is celebrated by Zoroastrians, Bahá’í and some Muslim sects

August 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.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine became Queen of France in 1137.  Her dowry included Aquitaine including the vineyards or Bordeaux, which remained hers through the marriage and afterwards.
• Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland died in 1714.  A political opponent once wrote of a statue of her, “it was fitting she was depicted with her rump to the church, gazing longingly into a wineshop”.
• Colorado was admitted to the union in 1876.  It is home to  the Grand Valley and West Elks viticultural areas.
• Germany's Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) is renamed Prädikatswein in 2007.
• There is an old French saying “S’il pleut le jour de la Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, la vinée réduit du tiers,” or approximately “If it rains on the Festival of the Liberation of Saint Peter, the wine will be reduced by a third”.

July 25th - 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.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine married Prince Louis who would later be crown Louis VII of France at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux i.n 1137 Bordeaux and all its wines were hers.
• Listed among the expenses for Princess Mary in 1540 was "Itm to the gentylmen of the king's chapell for to drinkt w a bucke 40s”
• New York ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788.  It is home to the Cayuga Lake, Champlain Valley of New York, Finger Lakes, Hudson River Region, Long Island, Niagara Escarpment, North Fork of Long Island, Seneca Lake, The Hamptons, Long Island and Lake Erie viticultural areas.  
• It is the feast day of St. Cucuphas.  He was martyred by the Romans who tried to kill him by roasting him with vinegar and pepper.  Eventually, they cut his throat.  
• Happy National Wine and Cheese Day!

May 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.

• Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet and polymath was born in 1048.  The is responsible for the verse:

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou 
Beside me singing in the Wilderness— 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! ”

— Omar Khayyám, The Rubaiyat

• The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England in 1152 brought good cheap Bordeaux wine to the people of England.
• Louis Bignon, French chef and agriculturist, and Legion of Honour recipient died in 1906.  He was known for the high quality of wine in his restaurant as well as investing in research on the phylloxera.
• The Minnesota Dairy and Food Department reports that Ole Olson plead guilty to selling Blackberry Brandy that had been adulterated with coal-tar dye in 1908.  He was fined $40.
• The French have a saying, « Soleil à la Saint-Éric promet du vin plein les barriques. » or, “Sun at St. Eric’s day promises barrels full of wine.”

July 25th - 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.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine married Prince Louis who would later be crown Louis VII of France at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux i.n 1137 Bordeaux and all its wines were hers.
• Listed among the expenses for Princess Mary in 1540 was "Itm to the gentylmen of the king's chapell for to drinkt w a bucke 40s”
• It is the feast day of St. Cucuphas.  He was martyred by the Romans who tried to kill him by roasting him with vinegar and pepper.  Eventually, they cut his throat.  

May 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.

• Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet and polymath was born in 1048.  The is responsible for the verse: 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

 A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou,

Beside me singing in the Wilderness,

 And oh, Wilderness is Paradise enow

• The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England in 1152 brought good cheap Bordeaux wine to the people of England.
• The Minnesota Dairy and Food Department reports that Ole Olson plead guilty to selling Blackberry Brandy that had been adulterated with coal-tar dye in 1908.  He was fined $40.