July 24th - This Date in Wine History

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Isle of Dogs

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 ferryboat 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, including the quote:
“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.”

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— Oliver Goldsmith - The Traveller
  • President McKinley entered into a treaty with the King of Portugal to reduce tariffs on wine in 1897.

February 3rd - 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 1468 Johannes Gutenberg died. He invented the method of printing from moveable type. One of the important innovations in his method was a new press, similar to the screw presses used in winemaking.
  • Samuel Pepys reports in his diary that he went out with this cousin Roger to Priors, a Rhenish wine-house and had a “pint or two of wine and a dish of anchovies in1660.
  • The father of Washington State wines, Dr. Walter J. Clore died this day in 2003.