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  His wedding was celebrated with Commandaria, a wine originally made by the Knights Templar on Cyprus.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 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.

• For circumnavigating the globe, Sir Francis Drake was knighted in 1581.  During the voyage he sacked the port of Valparaiso and captured a ship of Chilean wine.

• King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway died in 1588.  He was considered a typical Danish king and was a lover of hunting, wine, women and feasting.

• Robert Walpole, The Earl of Orford and Prime Minister of Great Britain becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1721.  He proposed that the tariff on wine and tobacco be replaced by an excise tax.  Revenues had fallen due to smuggling.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular reports that the ship Cibele left the Port of Genoa bound for NYC laden with wine.

• Washington's Yakima Valley AVA was designated in 1983.

March 29th - 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 an experiment in 1749 the measurements of a thermoscope (an early form of thermometer) was tested with water, salt water and “spirit of wine” mixed with water.  This last version caused the instrument to rise much more dramatically.

• Baron Bettino Ricasoli, the Father of Chianti Classico, was born in 1809.

• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruled  in 1813 that the Philadelphia Sheriff Barker was not entitled to break into Plaintiff Lyle’s house and seize 29 pipes of Madeira to pay an undetermined debt to Robert Morris.

• Bentley’s Miscellany in 1842 published an account of three “medical young gentlemen” who attended the Greenwich fair, meeting at the Cheshire Cheese in Wine-office Court, Fleet Street.

• Oregon's Umpqua Valley AVA was designated in 1984.

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 26th - 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 Siege of Algeciras, during the Reconquista ended in 1344.  The victor, Alfonso XI prepared for the seige by taxing expanding the Alcabala tax from bread, wine, fish and clothing to all goods.

• The Gambellara DOC designation was established in 1970.

• The San Martino della Battaglia DOC designation was established in 1970.

• The Taurasi DOCG designation was established in 1970. The grapes used to produce this wine were previously called hellenico because of their Greek origin.

• Noël Coward who wrote: The air is like a draught of wine. The undertaker cleans his sign, The Hull express goes off the line, When it's raspberry time in Runcorn. in On With the Dance, 'Poor Little Rich Girl’ died in 1973.

• The Cheverny AOC was created in 1973.

• The AOC Aloxe-Corton was designated in 1986.

March 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.

• In 1524 Hernán Cortés, Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley decreed that all Spaniards with encomiendas should plant 1,000 Spanish and native grapevines for ever 100 indians in their service.

• The Dutch East India Company was created in 1602.  The South African wine industry, started by Jan van Riebeeck, a company y employee is a legacy.

• Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet was born in 1770 He is known for the poem, Brod und Wein.

• James Christie imported 621 1/2 of port wine and 600lbs of Jesuits bark (cinchona bark, the source of quinine) in 1776.

• Ferdinand Foch, French General, military strategist and Supreme Allied Commander during WWI died in 1929.  The grape Marechal Foch was named in his honor.

• Spain's Plá I Llevant  DO was created in 2001.

• Happy Spring!  It is the Vernal Equinox.

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.

January 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.

• Charles VI of France almost dies during the Bal des Ardents in 1393.  During the celebration the King and five other nobles performed a charivari dance dressed as wild animals.  They were set ablaze accidentally by the King’s brother, the Duke of Orleans.  The only other noble to survive (besides the King) jumped into a vat of wine to save himself.

• Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known most often as just Colette was born in 1873.  Many of her books describe food and wine including Gigi and the Claudine stories.

• English writer and critic, George Saintsbury, author of Notes on a Cellar-Book died in 1933.

• The Rossese di Dolceacqua DOC was created in 1972.

• California's Napa Valley AVA was designated in 1981.

• The French have a saying, « Si on ne l'a pas fait pour sainte Geneviève, c'est à la saint Charlemagne qu'on met la vigne à sève. » which translates (loosely) to "If it has not been done for Saint Genevieve, it is to Saint Charlemagne that the vineyard is put to the sap.”

January 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.

• In a letter to the Earl of Grosvenor in 1829, William Cobbett of Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register discusses the cost of living in the United States and how much more reasonable costs for Claret, Port, Madeira, spirits and hard ale (for nobody will drink small beer in that country).

• The Western Temperance Journal dated 1841 ran a story about a married couple couple that comes to ruin because the man drank a glass of wine with a friend.

• The California State Viticultural Commissioners met in San Francisco in 1887.  They discussed legislation relating to sweet wine.

• Wine maker, Jose Ignacio Domecq dies in 1997.

January 9th - 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. 

• Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. It is home to the Western Connecticut Highlands and Southeastern New England  viticultural areas.

• Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was given a state funeral in 1806.  He died several months earlier at the battle of Trafalgar but was preserved in a barrel of Brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh.

• Dave Matthews Band front man, Dave Matthews was born in 1967.  He owns Blenheim Vineyards in Albemarle, Virginia.

• The Barbera d'Asti DOC, Barbera del Monferrato DOC and Rubino di Cantavenna DOC were created in 1970; 

• The Bianco Valdinievole DOC was established in 1976.

• The Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC was created in 1985.

• The Rosso Conero Reserve DOCG designation were established in 2004.

November 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.

• 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.

October 23rd - 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.

• Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden was born in 1636. At one point, her grandson, Charles XII encountered her while he was inebriated.  She gave him a withering look and turned her back on him.  long look and then turned her back to him. Charles emptied his cup and saying: “My Gracious Lady Grandmother is pleased to forgive me. From hereafter I will never more drink wine”.

• François Clicquot died in 1805, leaving his wife Nicole Barbe Ponsardin as La Veuve (the widow)  Cliquot.

• English writer and critic, George Saintsbury, author of Notes on a Cellar-Book was born in 1845.

• Baron Bettino Ricasoli, the Father of Chianti Classico, died in 1880.

• California's Temecula Valley AVA was designated in 1984.

October 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.

• Virgil born today in 70 BCE wrote the Georgics, whose second volume deals with viticulture matters and includes a description of early ice wines.

• Flemish painter, Simon de Vos, died in 1676.  His paintings often depict people at social gatherings with wine, such as the “Wedding at Cana” and “Gathering of Smokers and Drinkers”.

• Mata Hari the Dutch courtesan, dancer and spy was executed by firing squad in 1917.  While she was awaiting execution she was brought a steady supply of champagne and meals from nearby restaurants.

• ‘Red Red Wine’ by UB40 was number 1 on the charts in 1988.

• Today is Pennsylvania Wine Day.

September 14th - 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.

• Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was born in 1486 in the Electorate of Cologne. A German physician and polymath, his book De occult philosophy libra tres contained  cures for fevers that included herbs when steeped in wine.

• Dom Pierre Pérignon “inventor” of Champagne died in 1715.

• Arthur Wellsley, 1st Duke of Wellington died today in 1852.  He was known by his soldiers as a man who could subsist on cold bread and meat but always drank the best wine.  Often and entire bottle with his meal. 

• The Colline Saluzzesi DOC was created in 1996.  This wine region is located in the Cuneo section of Italy's Piedmont.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 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.

• Francis I of France was born in 1494. During his reign he expanded the Chateau at Fontainebleau to include a fountain that gushed watered wine.

• Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Thomas Newton, Jr. in 1803 regarding an order for wine and cider but notes that British war ships “continue to impress our seamen”.

• Tom McDonald, pioneering New Zealand winemaker was born in 1907.

• The Gundlach-Bundschu Wine Company had their trademark published by the U.S. Patent Office in 1911.

• Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame died in 1993.  He established Raymond Burr Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley in 1966.

• Happy California Wine Month!

August 29th - 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.

• John the Baptist is thought to have been beheaded in 28/9AD.  A drunk King Herod promised the head of his stepdaughter Salome after she danced for him. John publicly reproved both Herod and Herodius for divorcing their spouses and then marrying each other. 
• William Cobbett in a letter to his Political Register dated 1818 indicates that claret wine costs only ten pence per quart while a similar amount would cost six to eight shillings.
• Stricter wine purity laws were passed in 1985 by the Austrian government in the wake of the scandal surrounding diethylene glycol contaminated wines.
• Coteaux de Saumur AOC was revised in 2002.  These wines semi-sweet and made of Chenin Blanc.

August 26th - 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.

• Robert Walpole, The Earl of Orford and Prime Minister of Great Britain was born in 1676.  He proposed that the tariff on wine and tobacco be replaced by an excise tax.  Revenues had fallen due to smuggling.
• Percy T. Morgan of the California Wine Association sent a telegraphic dispatch to John W. Yerkes, Commissioner of Internal Revenue to complain about the regulations on fortified sweet wine.
• Gala Dalí was born in 1894. She was the wife of artist, Salavador Dalí who  created a wine book, The Wines of Gala, as well as a cookbook, The Dinners of Gala in her honor.
• The Coteaux-du-Loir  AOC was named in 1946. It is located in Sarthe and Indre-et-Loire and uses mainly the Chenin Blanc and Pineau d’Aunis.

August 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.

• St. Fiacre of Breuil died in 670. He is the patron saint of gardeners.
• The Siege of Málaga ended in 1487.  This was part of the Reconquista of Moorish Spain, specifically the Emirate of Granada.  The Spanish victors brought “legal” wine back to Málaga.
• Pope Alexander VI dies after drinking poisoned wine in 1503. 
• Virginia Dare, the first English child in the New world was born in 1587.  She disappeared with the rest of the Roanoke Island settlers.  There is a winery named in her honor.
• Hacienda de San Lorenzo, the first winery in the Americas was begun in 1597 by Don Lorenzo Garcia in Santa María de las Parras, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico
• The cornerstone for Waddesdon Manor was laid in 1877.  Built by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild it contains a reproduction of the wine cellar at Château Lafite Rothschild and contains more than 15,000 bottles.  The largest private collection of Rothschild wines in the world.
• Bond girl, Carole Bouquet was born in 1957.  She is owner of Sangue d’oro winery in Sicily, Italy.
• California's Anderson Valley and Willow Creek AVAs were designated in 1983.

August 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.

• The Hotel-Dieu de Beaune was founded by Nicolas Rolin in 1443. The vineyards of the Hospices de Beaune have supported the Hotel-Dieu for centuries. 
• Dom Pérignon makes the first champagne in 1693 (or discovers he did).
• In his speech to the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association for 1862, John Higginbottom, Esq., F.R.S., Nottingham relays that he had used wine and brandy to treat a post partum hemorrhage in a case dated in 1860.  He later decided liquor was not part of what he considered “best practices”. 
• Jeanne Calment, the French supercentenarian who lived to 122 years, 164 days died in 1997.  She was known to smoke a cigar or cigarette and drink a small glass of Port everyday from ages 111-114.
• The Galluccio DOC was established in 1997.  It comes from the Italian province of Caserta and can be made with Falanghina or Aglianico.
• Happy International Albariño Days!
• Happy National White Wine Day.
• Happy Mead Day.

July 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.

• Daniel Defoe was pillories for the crime of seditious libel in 1703, but was pelted with flowers.  He often supported himself by working as a merchant of wine, hosiery and woolen goods.
• The Bourgueil AOC was created in 1937.  The area is located in the Loire and uses the Cabernet Franc grape.
• The Aversa DOC was created in 1993.  The wine is made in Campania about 3 miles north of Naples an is made from Asprinio grape.
• The Rosso Orvietano DOC was established in 1998.  This red wine can be made from many red grape varietals so long as they contain at least 70% of Aleatico, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Sangiovese.
• Spain's Rueda DO was created in 2002.  These wines come from 72 communities in Castile and Leon and made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo, Verdejo and Viura.
• It is the feast of St. Germain d’Auxerre. There is a French saying, “S’il pleut à la Saint-Germain, c’est comme s’il pleuvait du vin”or (more or less) “Rain on Saint Germain’s day is like it’s raining wine”.