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.”

December 2nd - 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.

• Hernán Cortés, Conquistador, Governor and Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca died in 1577.  Legend has it that he and his soldiers drank all of their wine so fast after arrival in the new world that one of his first acts as Governor was to require the planting of vineyards throughout New Spain.

• Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, infamously known as the Marquis de Sade died in 1814.  In The 120 Day of Sodom he wrote: “Le duc imita bientôt avec Bande-au-ciel la petite infamie de son ancien ami et il paria, quoique le vit fût énorme, d'avaler trois bouteilles de vin de sens froid pendant qu'on l’enculerait”. or “The Duke soon imitated his old friend's little infamy and wagered that, enormous as Invictus' prick might be, he could calmly down three bottles of wine while lying embuggered upon it.”  He sounds nice.

• The Jurisdication of Saint-Emilion, France was named a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1999

• The South African wine-making co-operative,Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt, became KWV Ltd. in 2002

• It is the feast day of St. Bibiana.  She is the patron saint of hangovers.

November 30th - 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.

• Pope Pius VIII was died in the Rome in 1830.  As Pontiff, Pius removed the laws that forbade selling wine in taverns except when served with meals.

• Winston Churchill, known for enjoying a glass of hock for breakfast was born in 1874.  He is also known to have said,  “Champagne should be cold, dry and free”? 

• Oscar Wilde dies in Paris in 1900. He is famously quoted as saying while sipping champagne, "And now, I am dying beyond my means.”

• California's Wild Horse Valley AVA was designated in 1988.

• Oregon's Dundee Hills AVA was designated 2004.

November 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.

• Amos Bronson Alcott was born in 1799. An American teacher and writer he joined with his family and Charles Lane to create an ideal society, called Fruitlands.  They believed,  "Our wine is water,—flesh, bread;—drugs, fruits.” The problem is that the soil wasn’t arable and no one really knew how to farm.  Alcott is the father of author, Louisa May Alcott.

• Wilhelm Hauff, A German writer was born in 1802.  He is author of the story, The Wine-Ghosts of Bremen.

• The Whitman massacre occurred in 1847.  Marcus and Narcissa Whitman came to Washington state to establish a mission among the Cayuse people.  After a measles outbreak they were attacked for having brought the disease to the Cayuse.  This area is now the Walla Walla AVA.

• The treaty to create an International Wine Office was signed in 1924.  It was signed at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Texas' Hill Country AVA was designated in 1991.

• The Australian Geographical Indication "Padthaway" was registered in 1999.

November 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.

• Roman poet, soldier and senator, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace died in 8 BC.  He is known for odes such as “Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus” or “Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth.” FYI, the symbol of the French tire  company, Michelin is named Bibendum.

• Guillaume Du Fay, the Franco- Flemish Renaissance composer died in 1474.  He is noted as the Canon of Cambrai in documentation when he received 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist.

• Illinois' Shawnee Hills AVA was designated in 2006.

• Oregon's Chehalem Mountains AVA was designated in 2006.

October 25th - 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.

• Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400.  His work was so popular in England that he was granted a gallon of wine each day for the remainder off his life b Edward III in 1374.

• John Britton, later to be an English antiquarian was apprenticed to a wine merchant, Mr. Mendham in 1785.

• Max Stirner, German philosopher and father of nihilism was born in 1806.  He often met with a group of young philosophers called Die Freien for debates at Hippel’s wine bar in Berlin.

• Chilean football star, Elías Figueroa was born in 1946.  He is owner of Vino’s Don Elías in Chile’s Maipo Valley.

September 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.

• Theodore de Mayerne, a Swiss physician who cared for Henri IV of France, James I, Charles I and Charles II of England was born in 1573.  He was said to have died in1655 from an excess of drinking of bad wine.

• French Romantic writer, Prosper Mérimée was born in 1803.  In  a story La Chamber bleu, written for Empress Eugenie, two lovers in a hotel room find a stream of blood coming under the door of their room.  They later discover it was Port wine.

• Louis Pasteur, who discovered pasteurization, the nature of tartaric acid in wine making & germ theory died today in 1895.

• Jean "Johnny" Hugel, Alsatian wine producer was born in 1924.

• Happy California Wine Month!

August 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.

• Charles Baudelaire, a French poet, essayist and translator of Edgar Allan Poe died in Paris in 1867 at the age of 46. His poetry contained thematic elements including: sex, death, lesbianism, sacred and profane love, metamorphosis, melancholy, correction of the city, lost innocence, oppressiveness of living and wine.
• Per Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular shows that the ship, Martello left the port of Hull in 1887, loaded with wine bound for NYC.
• Len Evans, Australia’s leading ambassador of wine, was born in 1930.
• The Trebbiano di Romagna DOC was created in 1973.  The grape known as Trebbiano in Italy is referred to as Ugni Blanc in France.
• Missouri's Ozark Highlands AVA was designated in 1987.

July 24th - 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 met and went out with the children Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret and were out so late they were unable to get a ferry boat back to the house, so they slept in a coach on the Isle of Dogs until one was available,  feasted on wine and snacks then headed home.
• The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction in 1824 reported on the Palace of the King of the Sandwich Islands, quoting Goldsmith in his Traveller 

“But where to find that happiest spot below, 
who can direct, when all pretend to know? 
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone 
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own:  
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, 
And his long nights of revelry and ease.  
The naked negro, panting at the line, 
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine, - 
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, 
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.”

— Oliver Goldsmith

• Alphonse Mucha, a Czech painter of the Art Nouveau period was born in  1860. He is known for advertising illustrations for many products including Moet & Chandon, Vins des Incas, F. Champenois, Benedictine, Ruinart, Heidsieck, 
• President McKinley entered into a treaty with the King of Portugal to reduce tariffs on wine in 1897.

June 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.

• Clement V was elected to Pope in 1305 and became the first of the Avignon popes. The Popes promoted the vineyards of the area in order to improve the quality of wine that they produced. The result was Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
• Louis the X of France died in 1316 after playing an exhausting game of “real tennis” (jeu de paume) and then drinking a large quantity of cooled wine which brought on pneumonia. or poison. 
• The June Rebellion of 1832 occurs in Paris as an attempt to over through Louis-Philippe.  The Rebellion was fictionalized by Victor Hugo in his novel, Les Misérables where students and others build barricades near the wine shop they use as a headquarters.  As in the novel, the Rebellion was squashed quickly.
• The Albana Romagna Spumante DOC was created in 1995.

May 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.

• Alcuin scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria and first known wine writer died in 804.
• Spain's Almansa DO was created in 1975.
• Spain's Ampurdán-Costa Brava DO was created in 1975.  It is now called Ampurdán or Empordà.
• Spain's Priorato DO was created in 1975.
• The Bianco Capena DOC was created in 1975.
• The Savuto DOC was created in 1975.
• California's Seiad Valley AVA was designated in 1994.
• Thomas Harris' Novel, The Silence of the Lambs was published in 1999. In the novel Hannibal Lector describes eating the census taker's liver with fava beans and a big Amarone... Not the Chianti mentioned in the movie.  Another change is that the movie used the death’s-head Hawkmoth instead of the Black Witch moth. 

April 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.

• Birthday (baptism anniversary?) of William Shakespeare in 1564.. he wrote Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. in Othello.
• Prince Albert, Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923.  It was estimated that the daily alcohol consumption of Elizabeth, The Queen Mother included a gin and Dubonnet at noon, red wine with lunch, port and a martini at 6pm and 2 glasses of champagne at dinner.  She lived to be 101.
• Felix Kir, French Catholic priest, resistance fighter and politician for whom the cocktail Kir was named died in 1968.
• It is the feast day of Paschasius Radbertus who’s most influential work De Corpora et Sanguine Domini is about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist.

April 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.

• Geoffrey Chaucer was granted a galloon of wine per day for the rest of his life in 1374 by Edward III.  Chaucer lived until 1400.
• “Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.” from Othello by William Shakespeare who died in 1616.
• The Barbaresco DOCG designation was established in 1966.  These wines are from Italy's Piedmont region and are made of Nebbiolo grapes.
• Vinalia Urbana, a Roman festival celebrated the blessing of new wine and asking the gods for a good harvest.  Offerings were made to Jupiter who blessed the sacred wines used for offerings and Venus who blessed the profane or common wine that was for everyday use. 
• The French have a saying, « Georget, Marquet, Vitalet et Croiset, s'ils sont beaux, font du bon vin. » or “If it is nice on the days of St. Georget, Marquet, Vitalet and Croiset good wine will be made.”

April 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. 

• Charles Collé the French dramatist and songwriter was born in 1709.  He wrote for his patron, the Duke or Orleans with jovial and bawdy often on the subjects of love and wine. 
• The Exposition Universelle of 1900 opened in Paris.  The Grand Prix de Champagne was won by a Ukrainian sparkling wine, Novy Svet, created by Prince Lev Golitsyn.
• The Grapes of Wrath  by John Steinbeck was published in 1939.
• The Loazzolo DOC was created in 1992.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "Piccadilly Valley" was registered in 2000.

November 1st - 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.

Phillip II of France was crowned in 1179.  He is known for hosting a wine tasting referred to as the Battle of the Wines.  A poem celebrating this event “La Bataille des Vins” was written in 1224 by Henry d’Andeli.

Edgar Alan Poe's story, A Cask of Amondillado was published in the Godey's Ladies Book in 1846

The French have a saying, « À la Saint Mathurin, tire ton vin et laisse l'eau pour le moulin. »  or "At Saint Mathurin, draw your wine and leave the water for the mill. "

October 25th - 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.

• Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400.  His work was so popular in England that he was granted a gallon of wine each day for the remainder off his life b Edward III in 1374.
• John Britton, later to be an English antiquarian was apprenticed to a wine merchant, Mr. Mendham in 1785.
• Max Stirner, German philosopher and father of nihilism was born in 1806.  He often met with a group of young philosophers called Die Freien for debates at Hippel’s wine bar in Berlin.

August 3rd - 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.

• Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known most often as just Colette died in 1954.  Many of her books describe food, wine and the demimonde including Gigi and the Claudine stories.
• Sant'Agata dei Goti DOC was named in 1993.  These Italian wines come from Campania and are made of Aglianico and Piedirosso grapes
• Spain's Montsant DO was created in 2002These Spanish wines come from Catalonia and are made of Chardonnay, White Grenache, Macabeo, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, Parellada, and Xarel·lo. The authorized red varieties are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Grenache, 'Hairy' Grenache, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Red Picapoll, Syrah and Tempranillo

June 11th - 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.

• Ben Jonson, the English poet was born in 1572.  After the death of Henry IV of France, Jonson decided to re-join the Church of England and showed his renunciation of the Catholic faith by drinking a full chalice of Communion wine which at the time was supposed to only be drunk by the priests.  Also Drink to me only with thy eye and I will drink with mine… Or leave a kiss within the cup and I’ll not ask for wine.  To Celia…
• California's Sonoma Coast AVA was designated in 1987.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "Swan Hill" was registered in 1996.

June 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.

• Thomas Harris's Novel Hannibal is released in 1999. In the Novel Hannibal Lector sends Clarice Starling a old bottle of Chateau d'Yquem for her 33rd birthday.
• Nannina de 'Medici married Bernardo Rucellai in 1466. Vernaccia di San Gimignano was served to the wedding guests.
• California's San Antonio Valley AVA was designated in 2006.

April 26th - This Date in Wine History

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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.

• Birthday of William Shakespeare in 1564.. he wrote "I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine.." As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5.
• Felix Kir, French Catholic priest, resistance fighter and politician for whom the cocktail Kir was named died in 1968.
• It is the feast day of Paschasius Radbertus who’s most influential work De Corpora et Sanguine Domini is about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist.