April 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.

• Isabella I of Jerusalem died in 1205.  Isabella’s first marriage was celebrated despite the castle of Kerak being under siege.  Her mother-in-law sent Saladin bread, wine sheep and cattle to join in the celebration and Saladin ordered that the tower the new couple were celebrating their wedding night in should not be attacked.

• Thomas Cavendish found 300 tuns of Spanish wine buried in the sand in a bay near Valparaiso, Chilean in 1587.  Given that he was a privateer, might be an exaggeration.

• Barbizon School painter, Jules Dupré was born in 1811.  He is known mostly for landscapes, but also for Still Life with a Grey Jug.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular dated 1887 states a ship named Fortuna left Oporto bound for NYC with a cargo of wine.

• Andre Tchelistcheff , the dean of American Winemakers died in 1994.

• Louis Latour, 10th generation president of Maison Louis Latour died in 2016 at the age of 83.

March 22nd - 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.

• Agostino Carracci, an Italian painter died in 1602.  One of his most famous works is of the Last Supper of Christ.

• The Illinois General Assembly created rules requiring every county to regulate weights and measures including for a wine measure.

• George W. Roosevelt, the US Ambassador to France reports on new French laws about the adulteration of wines in 1883.

• Viticulture Committee of the Region of Vinho Verde was created in 1929.

• Franklin Roosevelt signed The Cullen-Harrison Act to amend the Volstead Act that allowed the sale and taxation of low alcohol beers and wines in 1933.

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.

March 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.

• The Annotated Book of Common Prayer published in 1548 added the English Order of Communion to the Latin Mass.  This required that people receive both bread and wine as part of the Communion Rite.

• Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion in 1618.  Three years earlier he wrote Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum on using math to measure the volume of wine barrels.

• The Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro O Provedor e Deputados published a royal decree respecting the price of wine in 1804.  The company was founded by the Marquis of Pombal.

• CA Trundy of 61 Court Street, Boston wrote a testimonial as to the efficacy of Theobroma Wine which is found in a prospectus for the Theobroma Wine Co. in 1887.

• Zhen Wang Huang, aka Rudy Kurniawan was was arrested in 2012.  He is a wine collector who was convicted of wine fraud by buying Burgundy wine from negociants and relabelling them are more valuable wines, such as those the Domaine Romanée-Conti.

February 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.

• 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.”

February 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.

• Samuel Pepys reports going to the Nag’s Head Tavern with several old acquaintances and drank a bottle of sack (Sherry) with them in 1664.  The term “sack” comes from the Spanish “saca” which means extraction from a Solera.

• Carl Michael Bellman, a Swedish composer, musician, poet, and songwriter was born in 1740.  He is best known for Freedman’s songs and Freedman’s epistles which included themes of pleasure, drunkenness and sex.

• The Alsace - Klevener of Heiligenstein AOC was created in 1997 Rose of Savignin is a permitted grape for this region.

• It is the feast day of St. John de Britto, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary to India who evangelized by adopting the dress and diet of the the people by abstaining from all  meat products and wine. 

December 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.

• Guillaume Du Fay, the Franco- Flemish Renaissance composer first identified as the Canon of Cambrai in documentation when he received 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist in 1440.

• The Methuen Treaty, that established the wine trade between Portugal and England was signed in 1703. This gave Britons access to Portuguese wine during war with France.

• Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist who demonstrated that microorganisms contaminated fermenting beverages thus allowing him to invent the process of "pasteurization" was born in 1822.

• French actor, Gérard Depardieu was born in 1948.  He also owns Chateau de Tigne in Anjou, Loire Valley, France but also owns vineyards in Bordeaux, Languedoc, Algeria, Argentina, Morocco, Spain, Sicily and the United States.

• The Valpolicella DOC designation was established in 1990.  It is made in the Italian region of Verona.

• The Australian Geographical Indications "The Peninsulas” "Far North” "Fleurieu" "Limestone Coast” and"Mount Lofty Ranges" were registered in 1996.

• National Fruitcake Day (Fruitcake is preserved with brandy or fortified wines).

December 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 future Henri IV was born in Pau, Navarre in 1533.  He is said to have been baptised with a spoon of Jurançon wine and garlic.

• Sir Francis Drake begins his round the world voyage in 1577.  During the trip he stopped in Valaparaiso, Chile where he captured a ship of Chilean wine.

• Giovanni Del-Monico, a Swiss Wine Merchant and his brother Pietro open Delmonico & Brother Café 1827.

• Pierre Marie Alexis Millardet who saved the vineyards of France from phylloxera was born in 1838.

• The Cacc'e mmitte di Lucera DOC was created in 1975.

• The Moscato di Sardegna DOC was created in 1979.

• Portugal's Alto Douro Wine Region was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

November 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.

• Ferdinand Magellan passes through what became known as the Strait of Magellan. When provisioning his ships he paid more for Sherry than for weapons. This was perhaps the wrong choice as he was killed during the battle by angry Filipinos.

• California Fruit News in 1916 reported that the steamer Sonoma left San Francisco for Australia and the South Pacific carrying wine bound for Australia and Honolulu.

• Maynard A. Joslyn who lead the research to rebirth the California wine industry following the end of Prohibition in 1933 died in 1984. His research included quality issues with wine, including alcoholic content, and content of unfavorable items in alcohol (acidity, sulfur dioxide, and turbidity).

• The Appalachian High Country AVA was created in 2016.

• It is the feast day of St. James of the Marches.  An Italian friar, he is depicted with a wine filled chalice often with a snake trying to escape.  It is thought to refer to his attempted poisoning by King Tvrtko of Bosnia.

November 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.

• A report from The Present State of Europe, Volume 17 (1706) indicates that the British soldiers are greatly recovered and had received gifts of refreshments from the King of Portugal that included 20 pipes of wine as well as oranges and lemons.

• Vermont established rules regarding wine measures in 1839.

• California's Guenoc Valley AVA was designated in 1981.  British Actress Lilly Langtry and courtesan, once owned a winery in the valley.

• Spain's Vinos de Madrid DO was created in 1990.

• Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt Disney, died in 2013.  She along with her husband, owned Silverado Vineyards.

November 17th - 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.

• Zeno becomes sole Byzantine Emperor in 474 when his son and co-emperor, Leo II dies in 474. Legend holds that he was buried alive after becoming insensible with drink and hist wife Ariadne refused to allow anyone to open his sarcophagus.

• Louis XVIII was born in 1755.  After having spent  decades in exile after the death of his brother, Louis XVI, upon his restoration he promised the people that taxes on tobacco, wine and salt would be abolished.  He did not keep this promise.

• The U.S. Army established Fort Buchanan in 1856.  The fort was created to protect the newly acquired Gadsen Purchase.  Today the land the fort is located on is part of Arizona’s Sonoita viticultural area.

• União Vinícola da Região do Moscatel de Setúbal was created in Portugal in 1933.

November 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.

• Louis VII of France married Adela of Champagne in 1160.

• Wine, a silent film starring Fatty Arbuckle was released in 1913. 

• Casa do Douro was created in 1932.

• Washington and Oregon's Columbia Valley AVA was designated in 1984.

October 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.

• English Protestant martyr, Rowland Taylor was born in 1510.  He was a supporter of Lady Jane Grey who was overthrown by Mary.   He tried and found guilty of heresy for objecting to the doctrine of transubstantiation where bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  He was burned at the stake.

• John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist and Doctor who introduced the word Malaria into the English language was born in 1773.  He was the son of a wine merchant who returned to England after the French Revolution.

• The Poissardes, also known as the Dames de la Halle forced the King and Queen to leave Versailles for Paris in 1789. These women who had arrived the previous day were said to be the vilest refuse of their sex and were drunk with wine and fury.

• Thomas Jefferson was sent a bill for Portuguese wines from Tonmo and Bocallos wine and regrets that he did not accept the Oeiras wine.  Also included fruit and almonds as gifts.

• E.R. Budden of London, received English Patent 15,790 in 1890 for an Improved Method of and Apparatus for Maturing Wines and like Beverages.

October 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.

• Denis Diderot, French philosopher and writer and editor of Encyclopédie was born in 1713.  A government critic he was incarcerated in the fortress of Vincennes.  He was allowed only one book, Paradise Lost which he made notes in using a toothpick and slate scrapings mixed with wine as ink.

• Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont, referred to as the Chevalier d’Éon was born in 1728.  the Count de Guerchy tried to poison the Chevalier d'Eon by poisoning his wine with opium. The Chevalier was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason who lived the first half of her life as a man and the second half as a woman.

• Anaheim, California was founded in 1857 by 50 German-Americans who had formed the Anaheim Vineyard Company.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirits Circular indicates that the cargo ship Emilie left the port of Lisbon bound for NYC with a cargo of wine in 1887.

• California's San Benito AVA was designated in 1987.

October 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.

• In 1661 Samuel Pepys spent the evening at the Mitre with friends drinking wine and what he refers to as a “Portugal million” (melon) then later complains of a headache due to drinking too much wine.

• The Monteregio of Massa Marittima DOC was established in 1994

• The French have a saying, « À la Saint-Gérard, du vin fait bon marc. » or "At Saint-Gérard (Day), wine makes good marc. "

September 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.

• Robert of Geneva was elected Pope Clement VII in 1378.  He was the first of the Avignon Antipopes which brought us the delicious Chateauneuf-du-Papes.

• Ferdinand Magellan left with 270 sailors from Cadiz Spain in 1519 to circumnavigate the globe.  When provisioning his ships he paid more for Sherry than for weapons. This was perhaps the wrong choice as he was killed during the voyage by angry Filipinos.

• Italy’s Solopaca  and Malvasia delle Lipari DOCs were established in 1973.

• Baron Brisse who shared a bottle of wine from Alsace harvest of 1472, which had been given by the director of the Hospices de Strasbourg with Frederic Mistral and Victor Balaguer was born in 1813.

• Portugal’s Rota dos Vinhos do Dão was created in 1995.

• Happy California Wine Month!

• The French have a saying, “Gelée blanche pour Saint-Eustache grossit le raisin qui tache.“ or White jelly for Saint-Eustace magnifies the grape that stain.

September 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.

• Cellar Dão was created in 1932 

• Adega Regional de Colares was created in 1934

• Disgraced restauranteur, Mario Batali was born in 1960.  He is owner of Babbo in NYC and Eataly’s throughout the world.  He is part owner of La Mozza in Tuscany.

• The Muscadet AOC was amended in 2001

• The Premier Cru des Coteaux du Layon AOC was created in 2003

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 10th - 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 Grenville, English Lord, soldier, merchant fleet owner, privateer, colonizer and explorer died in 1591 in the Azores.  The Spanish captains described him as drinking  several glasses of wine, “take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in pieces and swallow them down, so that often the blood ran out of his mouth without any harm at all unto him…”

• Richard Grenville, English Lord, soldier, merchant fleet owner, privateer, colonizer and explorer died in 1591 in the Azores.  The Spanish captains described him as drinking  several glasses of wine, “take the glasses between his teeth and crash them in pieces and swallow them down, so that often the blood ran out of his mouth without any harm at all unto him…”

• The Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro or General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro founded to guarantee the quality of the product and fair pricing of Port Wine was established in 1756 by the Marquis of Pombal.

• In 1881, The Eighth District Agricultural Association awarded premiums on wine and liquors in Placerville, California.  Mrs. R. Chalmers won the awards for grape brandy, white wine, sweet wine and sherry, whereas the Kramp Brothers wine best red wine, dry wine and Port.

• Empress Elisabeth of Austria was assassinated in 1898. Prior to her death by an Italian anarchist, Elizabeth was obsessed with her weight and was thought to indulge in binge eating.  She is known to have to have visited restaurants incognito and would indulge in champagne, broiled chicken, salad and a considerable quantity of cake.

• Happy California Wine Month!

August 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 Roman Festival of Vinalia Rustica, celebrating the grape harvest was celebrated.
• Marcus Aurelius Probus who lifted the ban on vineyard planting in the Roman Empire was born in 232.
• Elizabeth Stuart was born in 1596.  After her marriage to Frederick V, Prince of Palatine and the Rhine, they began their journey to Heidelberg, meeting people from his kingdom and sampling local foods and wines.
• Edmond James de Rothschild, father of the modern Israeli wine industry was born in 1845.
• Junta Nacional do Vinho was created in 1937.
• Southern Flinders Ranges was entered into the Register of Protected Names by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corp. in 2003.

August 17th - 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.

• Cesare Borgia resigns the cardinalate in 1498, later that day he is named Duke of Valentinous.  He is best thought of as someone who poisoned the wine of his enemies.
• Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail for an expedition to the Azores in 1597.  The Earl of Essex was given royal monopoly on sweet wines by Queen Elizabeth.
• Joseph II Holy Roman Emperor allowed residents to sell home made wine, juice and food products Heurigen or Austrian wine inns were created by Imperial decree in 1784. Fir trees hung above the door alerted customers to the arrival of the new season's wine.
• Marcus Garvey was born in 1887 in Jamaica.  He was a founder of Pan-Africanism, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Black Star Line.  The Black Star Line owned vineyards in Ethiopia to produce fine wines for their voyages.
• Len Evans, Australia’s leading ambassador of wine, died in 2006.