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.

December 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.

• 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.

• A note from 1834 in the Register of Debates in Congress indicates that American’s imported $200,000 of wine from France in 1824 and increasing to $920,000 in 1833.

• Albert Abraham Michelson, the first American to win a Nobel Prize in a science was born in 1852.  Born in Poland, he moved to California in 1855.  His childhood home in Murphys Camp is now a tasting room for Hovey Wine.

• 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.

July 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.

• 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 Sherry) 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”.
• The HMS Pearl under the command of Captain Ballard took the Spanish xebecs Santa Christo, Veloce Commo Penser and an additional 6 Spanish settees which were laden with wine, oil, rice and barilla in 1800.
• 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.

March 2nd - This Date in Wine History

Photo by USDA-Agricultural Research Service

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. 

• St. Benedict of Nursia was born in 480.  He is the saint invoked against poison.  His monks tried to poison his wine and then his bread but he was saved by miracles.
• Henry Clay charged 14shillings for billiards and wine in 1804 from John Postelthwait in Lexington, KY.
• Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII was born in 1810.  He appeared in ads for Vin Mariani a wine and coca leaf tonic.
• The Texas High Plains AVA was designated in 2003.

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.
• 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.