February 12th - 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.
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.”
