November 20th - This Date in Wine History

/
1024px-Sir_John_Harington_by_Hieronimo_Custodis.jpg

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.

  • A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans was agreed to in 1407.  It lasted 3 whole days before Burgundy assassinated Orleans.

  • Sir John Harington, writer and courtier who Queen Elizabeth I referred to as her “saucy Godson” died in 1612.  He was unhappy with the amount of drinking at the court of James I and commented on a masque hosted by Robert Cecil where "the entertainment and show went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers”.

  • Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, later Pope Pius VIII was born in the Papal State of Marche in 1761.  As Pontiff, Pius removed the laws that forbade selling wine in taverns except when served with meals.

  • New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.  New Jersey is home to the Cape May Peninsula, Central Delaware Valley, Outer Coastal Plain and Warren Hills AVAs.

  • Robert Baddeley died in 1794, bequeathing £3 per annum to provide wine and cake in the green-room of Drury Lane theatre on Twelfth Night. The ceremony of the Baddeley cake has remained a regular institution.