February 20th - This Date in Wine History

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Andreas_Hofers_Gefangennahme_(Karl_v_Blaas).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. 

  • 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.
  • 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.

July 20th - This Date in Wine History

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Pope Leo XIII for Vin Mariani

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 reports in his diary that in 1663 he met with Captain George Cocke at his home and drank some of the Malago Sack (Malaga) which was purchased for his wife Anna Marie Cocke to improve her health, “who is, he fears, a little consumptive, and her beauty begins to want its colour”.
  • Pope Leo XIII, a proponent of Vin Mariani, a wine made with coca leaves, died in 1903.
  • The Cortese dell'Alto Monferrato DOC was created in 1979. The wine is made from Cortese grapes in the Piedmont region of Italy.

December 19th - This Date in Wine History

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Virginia commemorative quarter showing the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery

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 Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery left England in 1606 with colonists who would found Jamestown, Virginia.  Jamestown was underwritten by the Virginia Company that required settlers to provide for their own needs and hence viticulture came to Virginia.
  • In a letter from 1883, Giuseppe del Puente of 5th Ave., New York praises Dr. Angelo Mariani for his fine wine, Vin Mariani. Vin Mariani was made from Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves.