March 15th - 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 Fijt, a Flemish Baroque painter known for creepy still life of hunting dogs and dead game but also responsible for beautiful flower paintings and food still lifes  such as A Lobster in a Porcelain Dish was born in 1611.

• Theodore de Mayerne, a Swiss physician who cared for Henri IV of France, James I, Charles I and Charles II of England died in 1655 from an excess of drinking of bad wine.

• John Snow, the father of modern epidemiology, anaesthesia and hygiene who proved that the cholera outbreak in London in 1854 was associated with one water pump was born in 1813. During the 1830s he became a vegetarian and teetotaler until his health deteriorated and returned to meat and wine..

• Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820.  Vineyards in the State often make fruit, or country wine or with those of cold hard grapes.

• In the Parliamentary Debates of March 15, 1824, the Marquis of Lansdowne makes a motion to support the independence of south America by remarking that, “The time was, when Spain had the power to root up the vineyards of Mexico, that the inhabitants might rely on the mother country for wine“

• Beware the Ides of March!  Try drinking wines from Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, Greek wines that were said to be Caesar’s favorites and Beaujolais from the village of Juliénas which was named for him.

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.

February 12th - 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 1502 Vasco de Gama set sail for his second voyage to India.  His ships stopped in Madeira to pick up water (a likely story).

• In 1664, Dominie Blom, of New Amsterdam, petitioned the magistrates of Wildwyck: "that the public, sinful and scandalous Bacchanalian days of Bastenseen (Shrove Tuesday), coming down from the heathens from their idol Bacchus, the god of wine and drunkenness, being also a leaven of Popery, inherited from the pagans, which the Apostle, in I Cor. 5, admonishes true Christians to expurge, May , while near at hand, be prescribed in this place by your Honors.”

• British Actress and courtesan, Lilly Langtry died in 1929.  She once owned a winery in California’s Guenoc Valley.

• In 2010, the last ransom note is sent to Domaine Romanée-Conti by Jacques Soltys.  He claimed to have poisoned the vines in the vineyard to ruin its reputation.

• It is the feast day of St. Julian the Hospitaller, the patron saint of innkeepers.

• The French have a saying, « Soleil qui rit pour sainte Eulalie fait des pommes et des prunes mais pas de vin. » or "A laughing sun for Saint Eulalia makes apples and plums but no wine.”

January 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.

• Byzantine Emperor, Michael III was born in 840.  Known as The Drunkard, he was assassinated while sleeping after a drinking bout.

• Jean-Baptiste Troppmann was executed in 1870.  He poisoned his counterfeiting partner with wine and prussic acid.  He later killed the family of his partner-in-crime.

• Alexander Woollcott, drama critic, essayist, playwright, editor, actor, radio personality and member of the Algonquin Round Table was born in 1887.   He starred in the play, “Wine of Choice” at the Guild Theater (now the August Wilson Theater).

• Spain's Monterrei DO was designated in 1996.

September 15th - 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.

• One of the first known serial killers, Gilles de Rain was taken into custody in 1440.  Young victims were dressed in expensive clothing, given an extravagant meal and hippocras, a sweetened, spiced wine before being tortured, murdered and dismembered.

• The movie, Wine of Youth was released in 1924.

• Sherry, by The Four Seasons hits number one in the US.

• Happy California Wine Month!

• The French have a saying, “La rosée de Saint-Albin est, dit-on, rosée de vin.” or The dew of St. Albin is, it is said dewy with wine.

January 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.

• Byzantine Emperor, Michael III was born in 840.  Known as The Drunkard, he was assassinated while sleeping after a drinking bout.
• Jean-Baptiste Troppmann was executed in 1870.  He poisoned his counterfeiting partner with wine and prussic acid.  He later killed the family of his partner-in-crime.
• Alexander Woollcott, drama critic, essayist, playwright, editor, actor, radio personality and member of the Algonquin Round Table was born in 1887.   He starred in the play, “Wine of Choice” at the Guild Theater (now the August Wilson Theater).
• Spain's Monterrei was designated in 1996.

July 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.

• The Everyday Book of 1838 relays a story about Swan-hopping in the City (London) where a group of gentlemen were scammed out of the cost of lunch for a group of ladies (and their servants) during an expedition up river to watch the ceremony to mark the swans of London.  The gentlemen in question found that they had been left with bill by the ladies who claimed that “their husbands” would cover the costsof their dinner, dessert, wine,tea etc.  7£ 10 shilling.  By the way, London swans are still marked in London and are considered to be owned by the Queen, the dyers guild and the vintners guild.
• French eonologist, Alfred de Vergnette de Lamotte was born in 1806. He is best know for his work on wine preservation.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "Wrattonbully" was registered in 2005.

June 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.

• Frances Burney (seen above), novelist, diarist and playwright was born in 1752.  After the death of her mother, her father married the widow of wine merchant.
• Dorothy L. Sayers was born in 1893.  She was a English crime writer known for her wine loving character, Lord Peter Wimsey andwine salesman, Montague Egg both of whom are amateur detectives.
• California's Malibu-Newton Canyon AVA was designated in 1996.