December 17th - 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.

  • The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in 497 BC.

  • Jamal ad-Din Rumi, Muslim poet, jurist, scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic died in 1273.  He wrote:

On the seeker’s path, wise men and fools are one.

In His love, brothers and strangers are one.

Go on! Drink the wine of the Beloved!

In that faith, Muslims and pagans are one. -Quatrain 305

  • Humphry Davy was born in 1778.  He was a chemist known for isolating potassium, calcium and strontium among others.  He is also known for experiments with nitrous oxide which he mixed with wine and tried as a hangover cure (his notes said it worked).

  • This day in 1794 would have been the 27th day of the month Frimaire under the French Revolutionary Calendar. The day of the month was respresented by the Cork Oak Tree (Liège) and the month by Frost (Frimaire).

  • 50 Alsatian Grand Crus were established in 1992.

December 16th - 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.

  • Catherine of Aragon was born in 1485. After the birth of her first child, Henry, Duke of Cornwall was born guns were fired, bells were rung, fires lit and free wine was given to the public.

  • George Whitefield, one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement was born in 1714.  He was the son of an inn keeper who was “bred to the wine-trade” at least according to The General Assembly’s Missionary Magazine.

  • Barbe Nicole Ponsardin born in 1777, she is the future Veuve Cliquot.

  • Birthday of Noël Coward in 1899 who wrote: The air is like a draught of wine. The undertaker cleans his sign, The Hull express goes off the line, When it's raspberry time in Runcorn. in On With the Dance, 'Poor Little Rich Girl’.

December 15th - 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.

  • Emperor Nero who rose to power by poisoning Emperor Claudius’ heir Britannicus  through the water used to cool Britannicus’ wine was born in 37AD. 

  • David Teniers the Younger, the Flemish painter was born in 1610.  He is know for the paintings, Festival of the Monkeys, and Smoking and Drinking Monkeys.  In each of these paintings, the  monkeys represent fools in high places.

  • Johannes Vermeer, painter of "The Wine Glass, A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman" and "The Girl with the Wineglass" was died in 1675.

  • In 1803 Lieutenant De Coetlagon was fined one bottle of wine for annoying Lieutenant Dowlin at mess according to the records of the infantry militia battalions of the County of Southampton.

  • Pierre Marie Alexis Millardet who saved the vineyards of France from phylloxera died in 1902.

December 14th - 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.

  • George Washington died in 1799.  He was a member of the Virginia’s House of Burgesses from 1758-1765.  He plied the voters with 170 gallons of rice punch, beer, wine, hard cider and brandy.

  • Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes the French painter was born in 1824.  He is known for his work, The Wine Press.

  • ‘I heard it Through the Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye was #1 on the charts in 1968.

  • Spain's Conca de Barberá DO was created in 1989.

  • Chile's Declaration of Appellations was approved in 1994.

  • Oregon's Applegate Valley AVA was designated in 2000.

December 13th - 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.

  • 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.

December 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.

  • 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 11th - 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.

  • The Mongols begin to retreat in 1241 because Ogodei, son of Ghengis Khan died of alcohol poisoning.

  • George Mason, Virginia planter and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was born in 1725.  He was a pioneer in the Virginia wine industry and was a patron of Maurice Pound who experimentented on his behalf.

  • South African chemist and viticulturist, Abraham Izak Perold died in 1941

  • It is Indiana day to celebrate the Hoosier State’s admission into the United States in 1816.  Indiana is home to two viticultural areas.  The Ohio River Valley and Indiana Uplands.

  • It is the feast day of St. Gentian.  He is the patron saint of innkeepers.

December 5th - 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.

  • Sir Francis Drake discusses his stop in valperizo (Valparaiso) to re-provision his ship with wine, bread, bacon, etc for a long season in 1578.  

  • Prohibition is repealed in 1933.

  • In 1985, a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux that had belonged to Thomas Jefferson sold at Christie’s London for 105,000 British Pounds making it the world’s most expensive wine. (it was probably a fake).

  • The Savennières AOC was designated in 1996.

December 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.

  • Illinois was admitted to the union in 1818.  It is home to the Shawnee Hills and Upper Mississippi River Valley viticultural areas.

  • In 1894, while straining to open a bottle of wine, Robert Louis Stevenson collapsed.  He died a few hours later.

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the French impressionist painter died in 1919.  He is known for Luncheon of the Boating Party and Bar du moulin de la Galette which feature revelers enjoying drinks…

  • The Faro DOC was established in 1976.

  • The Lessona DOC was created in 1976.

December 4th - 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.

  • Nicholas Breakspear was declared #Pope #AdrianIV in 1154.  His #papacy would end five years later when he #choked on a #fly in his #wine

  • U.S. Gen. George Washington held a dinner to bid farewell to his officers in 1783.  He toasted them with the words,  "[w]ith a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." As he later asked to take each one of his officers by the hand for a personal word.

  • California's McDowell Valley AVA was designated in 1981.

  • California's Santa Cruz Mountains AVA was designated in 1981.

  • California's Sonoma Valley AVA was designated in 1981.

  • Falcon Crest, an American primetime television soap opera about an American winemaking family debuted 1981.

  • Happy Cabernet Franc Day!

December 2nd - 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.

  • Hernán Cortés, Conquistador, Governor and Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca died in 1577.  Legend has it that he and his soldiers drank all of their wine so fast after arrival in the new world that one of his first acts as Governor was to require the planting of vineyards throughout New Spain.

  • Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, infamously known as the Marquis de Sade died in 1814.  In The 120 Day of Sodom he wrote: “Le duc imita bientôt avec Bande-au-ciel la petite infamie de son ancien ami et il paria, quoique le vit fût énorme, d'avaler trois bouteilles de vin de sens froid pendant qu'on l’enculerait”. or “The Duke soon imitated his old friend's little infamy and wagered that, enormous as Invictus' prick might be, he could calmly down three bottles of wine while lying embuggered upon it.”  He sounds nice.

  • The Jurisdication of Saint-Emilion, France was named a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1999

  • The South African wine-making co-operative,Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt, became KWV Ltd. in 2002

  • It is the feast day of St. Bibiana.  She is the patron saint of hangovers.

December 1st - 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.

  • 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.

November 30th - 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.

  • Pope Pius VIII was died in the Rome in 1830.  As Pontiff, Pius removed the laws that forbade selling wine in taverns except when served with meals.

  • Winston Churchill, known for enjoying a glass of hock for breakfast was born in 1874.  He is also known to have said,  “Champagne should be cold, dry and free”? 

  • Oscar Wilde dies in Paris in 1900. He is famously quoted as saying while sipping champagne, "And now, I am dying beyond my means.”

  • California's Wild Horse Valley AVA was designated in 1988.

  • Oregon's Dundee Hills AVA was designated 2004.

November 29th - 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.

  • Amos Bronson Alcott was born in 1799. An American teacher and writer he joined with his family and Charles Lane to create an ideal society, called Fruitlands.  They believed,  "Our wine is water,—flesh, bread;—drugs, fruits.” The problem is that the soil wasn’t arable and no one really knew how to farm.  Alcott is the father of author, Louisa May Alcott.

  • Wilhelm Hauff, A German writer was born in 1802.  He is author of the story, The Wine-Ghosts of Bremen.

  • The Whitman massacre occurred in 1847.  Marcus and Narcissa Whitman came to Washington state to establish a mission among the Cayuse people.  After a measles outbreak they were attacked for having brought the disease to the Cayuse.  This area is now the Walla Walla AVA.

  • The treaty to create an International Wine Office was signed in 1924.  It was signed at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  • Texas' Hill Country AVA was designated in 1991.

  • The Australian Geographical Indication "Padthaway" was registered in 1999.

November 28th - 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.

  • 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 27th - 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.

  • Roman poet, soldier and senator, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace died in 8 BC.  He is known for odes such as “Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus” or “Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth.” FYI, the symbol of the French tire  company, Michelin is named Bibendum.

  • Guillaume Du Fay, the Franco- Flemish Renaissance composer died in 1474.  He is noted as the Canon of Cambrai in documentation when he received 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist.

  • Illinois' Shawnee Hills AVA was designated in 2006.

  • Oregon's Chehalem Mountains AVA was designated in 2006.

November 26th - 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.

  • Considerations Upon Christian Truths and Christian Duties  includes an examination of the parable of the Vineyard, Matt. 21:33  The volume was written by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challenor and published in 1773 in Cork, Ireland.

  • Ohio's Loramie Creek AVA was designated in 1982

  • The DOC named Lambrusco di Reggiano was revoked. The wine becomes known as Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa. Reggiano becomes known as a description for cheese only.

  • It was the feast day of Conrad of Constance.  He is represented as a bishop holding a chalice with a spider over it.  Though all spiders were thought to be poisonous, Conrad drank from the chalice out of faith.

November 22nd - 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.

Happy Thanksgiving from Qorkz!

  • Andreas Hofer was born in 1767.  He was a Tyrolean Innkeeper, and wine and horse tradesman who was a leader of the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleon.  He was eventually captured and executed.

  • Italy’s Brindisi Rosso DOC was created in 1979. 

  • France’s Anjou AOC was revised in 1991. 

  • Italy's Piedmont Chardonnay Pinot Spumante DOC was created in 1994. 

  • Spain's La Mancha DO was established in 1996.

  • Spain's Málaga DO was established in 2001.

November 21st - 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.

  • North Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution and is admitted as the 12th state in 1789.  It is home to Appalachian High Country, Haw River Valley, Swan Creek, Upper Hiwassee Highlands, Yadkin Valley and possibly soon, Crest of the Blue Ridge Henderson County.

  • The Kentucky General Assembly passed a bill to establish a commercial vineyard and winery in 1799

  • California's Green Valley of Russian River Valley AVA was designated in 1983.

  • California's South Coast AVA was designated in 1985.

  • New Mexico's Mimbres Valley AVA was designated in 1985.

  • Happy National Zinfandel Day.

November 20th - 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.

  • A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans was agreed to in 1407.  It lasted 3 whole days before Burgundy assassinated Orleans.

  • Sir John Harington, writer and courtier who Queen Elizabeth I referred to as her “saucy Godson” died in 1612.  He was unhappy with the amount of drinking at the court of James I and commented on a masque hosted by Robert Cecil where "the entertainment and show went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers”.

  • Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, later Pope Pius VIII was born in the Papal State of Marche in 1761.  As Pontiff, Pius removed the laws that forbade selling wine in taverns except when served with meals.

  • New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.  New Jersey is home to the Cape May Peninsula, Central Delaware Valley, Outer Coastal Plain and Warren Hills AVAs.

  • Robert Baddeley died in 1794, bequeathing £3 per annum to provide wine and cake in the green-room of Drury Lane theatre on Twelfth Night. The ceremony of the Baddeley cake has remained a regular institution.