October 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.

• In 1661 Samuel Pepys spent the evening at the Mitre with friends drinking wine and what he refers to as a “Portugal million” (melon) then later complains of a headache due to drinking too much wine.

• The Monteregio of Massa Marittima DOC was established in 1994

• The French have a saying, « À la Saint-Gérard, du vin fait bon marc. » or "At Saint-Gérard (Day), wine makes good marc. "

October 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.

• In 1661 Samuel Pepys spent the evening at the Mitre with friends drinking wine he refers to as a “Portugal million” then later complains of a headache due to drinking too much wine.
• The Monteregio of Massa Marittima DOC was established in 1994.
• The French have a saying, « À la Saint-Gérard, du vin fait bon marc. » or "At Saint-Gérard (Day), wine makes good marc. " (Marc is a brandy made from pomace, the remnants of grapes after pressing).

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.

January 9th - This Date in Wine History

View fullsize

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson

---

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.

---

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.

The Barbera d'Asti, Barbera del Monferrato, 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.