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 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.

• In the History of the 4th Battalion Norfolk Regiment:(late East Norfolk Militia) includes lists of bets among the officers including one: Dated March 14, 1813 from Limerick that Mr. Love bets Mr. Steele a bottle of wine that the place at which the Major commanded the left wing to fire with their arms shouldered was Mallow.  To be paid when decided.  This bet was lost by Mr. Steele.

• John Adlum, an American viticulturist famous for cultivating Catawba died in 1836.  His residence, named “The Vineyard” was located in Georgetown in the District of Columbia.

• English writer, wine-merchant and Master of Wine, Pat Simon was born in 1920.

• Spain's Valdepeñas DO was created in 1995.

March 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.

• Sviatoslav I of Kiev died in March of 972.  The date is unknown.  This is unusual for this calendar but his story was too good not to tell.  He was killed by Pecheneg Khan Kurya who turned his skull into a drinking cup. Kurya and his wife drank from the skull and prayed for a son as brave as the cup’s owner.  

• Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803.  It is home to the Grand River Valley, Isle St. George, Lake Erie, Loramie Creek and Ohio River Valley.

• John Adlum who is often considered the father or American viticulture and promoter and possible developer of the Catawba grape died in 1836.  He also the owner of a farm called, The Vineyard in Georgetown.

• Nebraska was admitted to the union in 1867.  It has been home to bonded wineries since 1994.

• The Alsace AOC was established in 1984.

• It is Baba Marta Day in Bulgaria.  She is the wife or sister of January and February (represented as long horned beetles) who is angry with them because they are dunk on wine.  Her anger is represented by the breaking of the weather and return of Spring.

• The French have a saying, « Qui taille sa vigne à la Saint-Aubin, aura de gros raisins. » or “He who prunes his vines on St. Aubin’s day will get big grapes”.

February 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 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.

• Woodrow Wilson died in 1924.  He was President at the beginning of Prohibition, which restricted the SALE of alcohol but not the consumption.  At the end of his term as president, Wilson had his wine collection moved to his new residence.

• The father of Washington State wines, Dr. Walter J. Clore died this day in 2003.

December 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.

• The Cape of Good Hope passed laws respecting the sale of  wines in 1762.

• Iowa was admitted as a state in 1846.  It is home to the Loess Hills District and Upper Mississippi River Valley viticultural areas.

• Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856.  He was President at the beginning of Prohibition, which restricted the SALE of alcohol but not the consumption.  At the end of his term as president, Wilson had his wine collection moved to his new residence.

• California's Shenandoah Valley AVA was designated in 1982.

• Virginia's Shenandoah Valley AVA was designated in 1982.

December 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 Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery  left England in 1606 with colonists who would found Jamestown, Virginia.  Jamestown was underwritten by the Virginia Company that required settlers to provide for their own needs and hence viticulture came to Virginia.

• A note from 1834 in the Register of Debates in Congress indicates that American’s imported $200,000 of wine from France in 1824 and increasing to $920,000 in 1833.

• Albert Abraham Michelson, the first American to win a Nobel Prize in a science was born in 1852.  Born in Poland, he moved to California in 1855.  His childhood home in Murphys Camp is now a tasting room for Hovey Wine.

• In a letter from 1883, Giuseppe del Puente of 5th Ave., New York praises Dr. Angelo Mariani for his fine wine, Vin Mariani. Vin Mariani was made from Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves.

December 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.

• Pennsylvania ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1787.  It is home to the Central Delaware Valley, Cumberland Valley, Lake Erie, Lancaster Valley,  and Lehigh Valley.

• Edvard Munch was born in 1863.  He was a painter and photographer known for “The Scream” as well as “Self-Portrait with a Bottle of Wine”.

• In 1887. J.T. Doyle of Cupertino revealed that his plot of long-pruned Grossblaue produced a “Thin, dry wine with pronounced astringency.  It was racked and pasteurized for safety”  This wine improved considerably by June of the following year.  Grossblaue is also known as the Slovenian wine grape, Žametovka.

• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular reported that Senator Henry W. Blair introduced a bill to create a commission to look at Alcohol and taxation.  The purpose of the commission would be to reduce alcohol usage.  

• California's Madera AVA was designated in 1984.

December 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.

• Sir Francis Walsingham was knighted in 1577.  Personal Secretary and Spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I, he was married to the Lord Mayor of London’s daughter Mary who was the widow of a wine merchant.

• A Report to the Superintendent of the Census for December 1, 1852 includes a history of viticulture from colonial days to the mid-19th century.

• Oregon's Willamette Valley AVA was designated in 1983.

• Spain’s Ribera del Duero DO was established in 1992.

• It is the feast day of St. Airy of Verdun.  As Bishop of Verdun, he received a visit from Childebert II and a feast was held.  The King’s warriors drank so much that they were in danger of running out of wine.  St. Airy had the last barrel brought out and prayed over it and the wine flowed continuously and was of much better quality.

October 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.

• In 1884, the California Agricultural Experiment Station crushed Trousseau grapes grown by William Pfeffer of Gubserville.

• The U.S. Department of Treasury determines that Vermouth which previously had be taxed as a cordial will now be taxed as a wine under the act of 1914.

• The Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato DOC was created in 1987.

• Sideways, starring Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giametti opened in 2004.

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.

September 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.

• Francis I of France was born in 1494. During his reign he expanded the Chateau at Fontainebleau to include a fountain that gushed watered wine.

• Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Thomas Newton, Jr. in 1803 regarding an order for wine and cider but notes that British war ships “continue to impress our seamen”.

• Tom McDonald, pioneering New Zealand winemaker was born in 1907.

• The Gundlach-Bundschu Wine Company had their trademark published by the U.S. Patent Office in 1911.

• Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame died in 1993.  He established Raymond Burr Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley in 1966.

• Happy California Wine Month!

September 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.

• Francesco Landini, an Italian musician and instrument maker died in 1397.  One of the records that has survived about him are receipts for wine drunk by himself and Andreas da Florentia over the time tuned an organ.
• The city council of Baza, Spain in 1521 banned the sale of wine in taverns to prevent drunkenness.
• G.H. Mumm filed an application for a trademark in 1876.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "McLaren Vale" was registered in 1997.
• Happy California Wine Month!

August 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.

• The Roman festival of Volturnalia was celebrated. dedicated to Jupitur Volturnus, god of the waters and fountains is celebrated with feasting and wine drinking at the pools near the temple of Vesta.
• Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian died in 1576.  He is famous for painting red-haired women.  He also painted the Bacchanale of the Andrians and Supper at Emmaus. 
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel the German philosopher was born in 1770.  At one point in his career, he became the tutor for a wine merchant’s family in Frankfurt.
• The Internal Revenue Record and Customs Journal issued an opinion on the duty regarding the importation of glass wine bottles known as brown hocks. in 1872.
• Eric Burdon & War’s song, ‘Spill The Wine’ hit number 1 on the charts in 1970.

August 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.

• Robert Walpole, The Earl of Orford and Prime Minister of Great Britain was born in 1676.  He proposed that the tariff on wine and tobacco be replaced by an excise tax.  Revenues had fallen due to smuggling.
• Percy T. Morgan of the California Wine Association sent a telegraphic dispatch to John W. Yerkes, Commissioner of Internal Revenue to complain about the regulations on fortified sweet wine.
• Gala Dalí was born in 1894. She was the wife of artist, Salavador Dalí who  created a wine book, The Wines of Gala, as well as a cookbook, The Dinners of Gala in her honor.
• The Coteaux-du-Loir  AOC was named in 1946. It is located in Sarthe and Indre-et-Loire and uses mainly the Chenin Blanc and Pineau d’Aunis.

July 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.

• Frances Stewart Howard, Duchess of Richmond was born in 1578.  After being orphaned at 14, she was married off to the son of a rich wine merchant, alderman and patron of the the Virginia Company.  
• The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in 1842 had an article the treatment for insanity including medicines made with warm water, wine and molasses.
• In a letter dated July 27, 1888, J.W. Hyde of Grace Church, Waterville, NY, took the opinion that if the Lord chose wine as one of the symbols of the Eucharist, that it is not the job of men to question his wisdom.
• In a 1901 report from Ambassador Thornwall Haynes indicates that Portuguese wine producers requested permission to distill some of the 132,000,000 gallons of surplus wine to ease the storage crisis.
• Olympian Peggy Fleming was born in 1948. She was owner of Fleming Jenkins Vineyards and Winery with her husband.  The winery closed in 2012.

June 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.

• Bear Flag Revolt begins in 1846.  Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.  The Anglos (mostly American) were prohibited from entering California without permission of the Mexican government and prohibited from renting or buying property.  
• Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular for 1887 reports that the ship, Trinacria left the port of Leghorn (Livornio) with a cargo of wine bound for NYC.
• The US Patent Office granted a patent for the Montebello & Co of Mareuil-sur-Ay, Marne, France for Champagne in 1910.
• California's Chalone AVA was designated in 1982.

June 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.

• The Byzantine emperor, Alexander died in 913 after playing tzykanisterion (Byzantine polo). He was viewed as lazy, lecherous, drunk and malignant.
• Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Valazquez was born in 1599.  He was a Spanish painter known for The Triumph of Bacchus or The Drunks.
• The Alex. D. Shaw & Company received a trademark for Sherry-Wine in 1911.
• The Australian Geographical Indication "Southern Fleurieu" was registered in 2001.
• The Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG designation was established in 2003.

May 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 Battle of Jinyang ended in 453 BC.  The victorious Zhao Xiangzi executed his opponent Zhi Yao and made his skull a wine cup.
• Bertalan Székely was born in 1838.  A Hungarian painter, he created an image of the Székely Blood Oath where the leaders 7 Hungarian tribes spill some of their blood into a chalice of wine and drink it to establish a bond.
• Washington Post wine columnist and James Beard Award winner, Karen A. Page was born in 1962.
• Actor, Stephen Amell was born in 1981.  He is known for portraying the Green Arrow on the TV show Arrow.  He is co-owner of Nocking Point Wine in Walla Walla, Washington.
• California's Clear Lake AVA was designated in 1984.

April 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. 

• George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ was born in 1867.  About the Easter Rising  he wrote, 

“And yet my spirit rose in pride
Refashioning in burnished gold
The image of those who died
Or were shut up in penal cell
Here’s to you Pearse, your dream, not mine
And yet the thought- for this you fell
Has turned life’s water into wine.”

— To the memory of some I knew who are dead and loved Ireland - 1917

• The Steuben County Wine Company of Chicago filed for a Trademark in 1905.
• Port Wine Institute was created in 1933.
• Washington's Red Mountain AVA was designated in 2001.

April 7th - 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 van Riebeeck, who planted in the first grapes in Cape Town was born in 1619.
• The Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect in 1933.  This law was an amendment the Volstead Act and allowed the sale and taxation of low alcohol beers and wines.  It was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt.
• Suzanne Valadon, artist model and painter died in 1938.  She was the subject of the Toulouse Lautrec painting, The Hangover.
• Director Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939.  He owns Niebaum Coppola, Rubicon Estate, Inglenook, and the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.
• California's Yorkville Highlands AVA was designated in 1998.
• Spain's Penedés DO was created in 2002.