April 8th - 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.

• Famed actress, Helena Modjeska died in 1909.  She and a small group of Polish artists and aristocrats emigrated to Anaheim, California to create a colony based on Brooks Farm.  They grew muscat grapes which no one would buy but instead stole… The colony failed and Modjeska returned to the theater but created her home at Arden in Anaheim until 1906.

• The Salice Salentino DOC was created in 1976.

• The Kanawha River Valley AVA was designated in 1986.

• It is the feast of St. Walter of Pontoise.  He is the patron saint of prisoners, prisoners of war, job-related stress and vintners.

April 7th - 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.

• Jan van Riebeeck, who planted in the first grapes in Cape Town was born in 1619.

• The Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect in 1933.  This law was an amendment the Volstead Act and allowed the sale and taxation of low alcohol beers and wines.  It was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt.

• Suzanne Valadon, artist model and painter died in 1938.  She was the subject of the Toulouse Lautrec painting, The Hangover.

• Director Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939.  He owns Niebaum Coppola, Rubicon Estate, Inglenook, and the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.

• California's Yorkville Highlands AVA was designated in 1998.

• Spain's Penedés DO was created in 2002.

April 6th - 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.

• Richard I of England, known as “Cœur de Lion” died in 1199.  His wedding was celebrated with Commandaria, a wine originally made by the Knights Templar on Cyprus.

• Jan van Riebeeck established a supply camp near the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.  This would become Cape Town and van Riebeeck would plant the first vineyard there.

• The British Medical Journal for December 13, 1862 reports on the care Margaret McCaffrey by the physicians at Liverpool Northern Hospital as she suffered from double bronchopneumonia.  She was treated from January 1st 1862 until April 6th by several glasses of port wine with other medicines.  She recovered.

• Actress Candace Cameron Bure was born in 1976.  She is owner of Bure Family Wines in St. Helena, California. 

• Spain's Chacolí de Getaria-Getariako Txakolina DO was created in 1990.

April 5th - 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.

• Isabella I of Jerusalem died in 1205.  Isabella’s first marriage was celebrated despite the castle of Kerak being under siege.  Her mother-in-law sent Saladin bread, wine sheep and cattle to join in the celebration and Saladin ordered that the tower the new couple were celebrating their wedding night in should not be attacked.

• Thomas Cavendish found 300 tuns of Spanish wine buried in the sand in a bay near Valparaiso, Chilean in 1587.  Given that he was a privateer, might be an exaggeration.

• Barbizon School painter, Jules Dupré was born in 1811.  He is known mostly for landscapes, but also for Still Life with a Grey Jug.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular dated 1887 states a ship named Fortuna left Oporto bound for NYC with a cargo of wine.

• Andre Tchelistcheff , the dean of American Winemakers died in 1994.

• Louis Latour, 10th generation president of Maison Louis Latour died in 2016 at the age of 83.

March 31st - 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.

• Cesare Borgia is given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier after returning from his conquests in the Romagna.  He is best thought of as someone who poisoned the wine of his enemies.

• Jules Guyot, was a French physician and agronomist, who introduced a system of "cane-pruning" of vines for trellises died in 1872.

• Rudolf Steiner, father of biodynamic wine making died in 1925.

• California's Cucamonga Valley AVA was designated in 1995.

March 28th - 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.

Hannah Glasse, author of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy was born in 1708.  Her cookbook included instructions for country wines and raisin wines

• In 1903, Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, wealthy industrialist, horseman and tycoon hosted an eccentric horsed dinner where all the guests were seated on a horse and ate off of silver trays affixed to the saddles.  Guests also drank 1898 Krug Champagne from rubber tubes to iced bottles in their saddlebags.  The dinner was held at Louis Sherry’s restaurant.

• The Bianco di Pitigliano DOC was created in 1966. 

• Brunello di Montalcino DOCG designation was established in 1968.

• The Southeastern New England AVA was designated in 1984.

• California's Santa Clara Valley AVA was designated in 1989.

• The French have a saying, « À la Saint-Gontran, espoir s'il fait beau, pain et vin se font voir. » or "At Saint-Gontran, hope if the weather is nice, bread and wine are visible. "

March 27th - 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.

• Simon de Brion, later known as Pope Martin IV was born in 1210 (or 1220).  In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees the pope in purgatory for his fondness for Lake Bolsena eels and Vernaccia wine.

• Abraham Mignon, artist of painter of still life and flower images including “Still Life with Fruit and a Goldfinch” died in 1679.

• Horace Walpole in a letter dated 1764 to Charles Churchill the satirist about the events of Lady Cardigan’s ball that evening where he tried to get fellow guests drunk, “but as they are not at all familiar chez moi, they formalize at wine, as much as a middle-aged woman who is just beginning to drink in private”. (He seems nice)

• The movie, Wine, Women and Song debuted in 1933

• Stacy Ann Ferguson Duhamel, the singer known as Fergie, was born in 1975.  She is founder of Ferguson Crest Winery.

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

March 19th - 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.

• During the reign of Charles I, 1667, it was reported that Rear-Admiral Utbert took  five or six Dutch and French prizes (ships) which were filled with wine, brandy and salt.

• Philip (Filippo) Mazzei, Italian born physical and viticulturist died in 1816.  He brought plants, seeds, silkworms and farms from Lucca, Italy. Thomas Jefferson gave Mazzei land too start a vineyard.

• Pennsylvania and New Jersey's Central Delaware Valley AVA was designated in 1984.

• California's Yountville AVA was designated in 1999.

• Today is the feast of St. Joseph who is honored with a table of meatless foods (as it is lent) and wine offered to the poor.  St.  Joseph is the patron Saint of the working man.

March 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.

Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burned at the stake.  The Knights at one point owned the entire Island of Cyprus and were purported to have created the wine, Commandaria.

Robert Walpole, The Earl of Orford and Prime Minister of Great Britain died in 1745.  He proposed that the tariff on wine and tobacco be replaced by an excise tax.  Revenues had fallen due to smuggling. #March18th #wine #history #winehistory🍷.

Ernest Gallo was born in 1909. #March18th #wine #history #winehistory🍷📗.

George I, King of the Hellenes was assassinated in Thessaloniki in 1913.  The king grew his own grapes for wine, Chateau Décélie. #March18th #wine #history #winehistory🍷.

The Australian Geographical Indication "Mount Benson" was registered in 1997 #March18th #wine #history #winehistory🍷📗.

Fess Parker, film and tv actor and winemaker died in 2010. #March18th #wine #history #winehistory🍷📗.

March 13th - 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 cargo of the ship Jameson and Peggy included James Anderson’s March 13, 1776 order of 5 Pipes (713 gallons ) port wine.  The jameson and Peggy was later taken by American forces during the Revolutionary War by James Munro.

• Louis François Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Conti was died in 1814. He inherited the Romanée- Conti vineyard from his father and owned it until the National Convention stripped him of his property in 1793.  He was exiled and died in poverty in Barcelona.

• The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal for March 13, 1884 contains an ad for the “Choicest and Purest Hungarian Wines ever brought to th is country Strictly for Medicinal Use”

• The Recreation and Cultural Association of Vale do Souto (ARCVASO) was created in 1989 in part to promote Vinho Calum and other cultural treasures.

• William Vere Cruess, food scientist responsible for rebirth of the California wine industry after prohibition died in 1968.  He is also viewed as the inventor of fruit cocktail (in a can).

• It is the feast of St. Ansovinus.  He is a patron of gardeners and is invoked for good harvests.

March 10th - 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.

• Johann Rudolf Glauber was born in 1604.  He was a German-Dutch alchemist who wrote about improvements in wine making and is considered an early chemist or chemical engineer.

• Parliament passed a duty of 7l. per tun of Madeira and 10s per tun of Portuguese and Spanish wine in 1764.

• William Shilling of Baltimore, MD received a patent  in 1868 for an apparatus for distilling spiritus liquors… specifically “low” wine.

• Paul Draper winemaker at Ridge Vineyards in California was born in 1936 

• Hugh Johnson OBE, British author and wine expert was born in 1939

• It is the feast day of St. Himelin.  He became while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome.  He ask a girl for water and was refused due to plague in the area.  When she relented, the water, miraculously turned into wine.  He died of the plague three days later. 

March 8th - 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 Annotated Book of Common Prayer published in 1548 added the English Order of Communion to the Latin Mass.  This required that people receive both bread and wine as part of the Communion Rite.

• Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion in 1618.  Three years earlier he wrote Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum on using math to measure the volume of wine barrels.

• The Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro O Provedor e Deputados published a royal decree respecting the price of wine in 1804.  The company was founded by the Marquis of Pombal.

• CA Trundy of 61 Court Street, Boston wrote a testimonial as to the efficacy of Theobroma Wine which is found in a prospectus for the Theobroma Wine Co. in 1887.

• Zhen Wang Huang, aka Rudy Kurniawan was was arrested in 2012.  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.

March 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.

• Frederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany in 1152.  He died during  a swim in the Saleph River during the third Crusade and his soldiers tried to preserve his body in a cask of vinegar.  It didn’t work.

• Charles Dibdin, a British composer, musician, writer and actor was born in 1745.  He is famous for the song and pantomine, The vineyard revels.

• Vermont was admitted to the union in 1791.  It’s first commercial winery opened in 1997. (there are currently 68 wineries in the state) 

• Oh, the humanity!  The Hindenberg had its maiden voyage in 1936.  Before the famous crash that ended zeppelin flights the Zeppelin Company provided food and drinks for the passengers including Zeltinger Rothlay Auslese, Moulin à Vent and Mumm, Cordon Rouge.

• The V. Sattui Winery in Napa Valley was opened to the public in 1976.

February 28th - 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 drank a pint of wine at the Greyhound Tavern with Mr. Pierce and William Howe in 1660.

• Wine writer, Andre Simon was born in 1877. 

• Mario Andretti was born in 1940.  He is one of the founders of Andretti Winery in Napa Valley.

• California's Rockpile AVA was designated in 2002.

• California's Trinity Lakes AVA was designated in 2005.

• The French have a saying, « Beau ciel à la saint Romain, il y aura des denrées et du bon vin. » or "Beautiful sky at St. Romain, there will be food and good wine. "

February 26 - 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 drank a draft of wormwood wine with Sir William Batten at the Steelyard in 1662.

• Musician Jonathan Cain was born in 1950. He is owner of Finale Wines in Sonoma County.

• California's Fair Play AVA was designated in 2001.

• Oregon and Washington's Walla Walla Valley AVA was designated in 2001.

February 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.

• Hieronymus Bock, a German botanist, physician and minister died in 1554.  He is the first person documented to use the term Riesling in his Kreutterbuch (Plant Book).

• Jeanne Calment, the French supercentenarian who lived to 122 years, 164 days was born in 1875.  She was known to smoke a cigar or cigarette and drink a small glass of Port everyday from ages 111-114.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular reports that the steamer San Juan sailed for Panama in 1890 with a consignment of California wines.

• Lidia Bastianich was born in 1947 in Pula, Croatia.  She is one of the owners of Bastianich Winery in Friuli, Italy with her son, Joe.

• Spain's Dominio de Valdepusa Vino de Pago was created in 2003.  It is located in Malpica de Tajo.

February 20th - 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.

• Andreas Hofer of St. Leonhard in Passeier died in 1810.  He was a Tyrolean Innkeeper, and wine and horse tradesman who was a leader of the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleon.  He was eventually captured and executed.

• Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter died in 1871.  His family emigrated to Upper Canada where his father operated a wine shop in York (later Toronto).

• Pope Leo the XIII was born in 1878. He appeared in advertisements for Vin Mariani, a wine made with Coca leaves.

• California's Mt. Veeder AVA was designated in 1990.

February 19th - 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.

• Matthaus Schwarz a German accountant was born in 1497. He was the son of wine merchant. He is best known for Trachtenbuch, or Book of Clothes cataloging the clothes that he wore between 1520 and 1560.

• The Peruvian volcano Huaynaputina exploded in 1600.  This eruption led to famine in Russian, bitterly cold winters  and disruption of the wine harvest in France, Germany and Peru.

• The Donner Party was rescued by a search party from Napa Valley in 1847.

• Nathaniel de Rothschild, founder of the French wine-making branch of the Rothschild family died in 1870.

• Spain's Cataluña DO was created in 1991.

February 16th - 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 IV, Holy Roman Emperor issued an edict in 1358 that vineyards be planted “On all the hills that face the noon in three miles around Prague. Everyone who owns such a hill is to commence such undertaking within fourteen days from the date of the issue of this edict. Anyone who would not or could not so undertake, let it be undertaken on their land by the man the vinemaster shall lend to them. Anyone who will establish a vineyard shall from the date of commencement to do so and for twelve years thereafter be exempted from all taxes and levies...”

• Philipp Melanchthon was born in 1497.  He was a collaborator of Martin Luther and helped create the early theology of the Lutheran Church, such as  the rejection of the idea of transubstantiation.

• Joseph Victor von Scheffel, a German poet and novelist was born in 1826.  He wrote  Gaudeamus, Lieder aus dem Engeren und Weiteren, a collection of humorous songs that are about student life and wine.

• California's Covelo AVA and  Washington's Rattlesnake Hills AVA was designated in 2006.