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.

February 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.

• Henry IV was crowned King of France in 1594.  He was baptized with a spoon of Jurançon wine and some garlic.

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in 1807.  An American poet and educator, he is the author of “Ode to Catawba Wine”.

• King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.  He built a summer villa called Mon Repos. George developed Tatoi, building roads and planting grapes for making his own wine, Chateau Décélie

• Today in 2006 The Georgian Government offered Jennifer Lopez $500,000 to advertise Georgian wine. The singer/actress declined the offer.

• It is the feast day of St. Gregory of Narek who’s book of Lamentations contains:

Look at me,

I am

unworthy of good, undeserving of favor,

incapable of love, drawn in by the strands of sin,

wounded in the depth of my inner organs,

a broken palm tree,

spilled wine,

damp wheat,

breached mortgage,

ripped up verdict,

counterfeit seal,

deformed image,

singed garment,

lost goblet,

sunken ship,

crushed pearl,

buried gem,

dried up plant,

broken beam,

rotten wood,

mutilated mandrake,

collapsed roof,

dilapidated altar,

uprooted plant,

oily filth on the street,

milk flowing through ash,

a dead man in the battalion of the brave.

January 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.

• Francis I of France was crowned in 1515.  He undertook many construction projections, including the Chateau at Fontainebleau which included a fountain that  sprayed watered wine.

• The State of Maine in 1871 revised their weights and measures to include a bushel, half bushel, peck, half peck, ale quart, wine gallon, wine half gallon, wine quart, wine pint, wine half pint, and wine gill.

• Maria Louise Ramé died in 1908.  The grand-daughter or a wine merchant, she was an English novelist better known as Ouida.

• French Football star, David Ginola was born in 1967.  He is in partnership with the Coste Brulade co-op at Puget-Ville in the Côtes de Provence in the Coste Brulade winery.

• “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” by Marvin Gaye was the number one song in 1969.

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, anesthesia 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-hardy 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.

January 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.

• Francis I of France was crowned in 1515.  He undertook many construction projections, including the Chateau at Fountainbleu which included a fountain that sprayed watered wine.
• The State of Maine in 1871 revised their weights and measures to include a bushel, a half bushel, peck, a half peck, ale quart, wine gallon, a wine half gallon, wine quart, wine pint, wine half pint, and wine gill.
• Maria Louise Ramé died in 1908.  The grand-daughter or a wine merchant, she was an English novelist better known as Ouida.
• French Football star, David Ginola was born in 1967.  He is in partnership with the Coste Brulade co-op at Puget-Ville in the Côtes de Provence in the Coste Brulade winery.
• “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” by Marvin Gaye was the number one song in 1969.