February 29 - This Date In Wine History

GRAPE CULTIVATION, WINEMAKING, AND COMMERCE IN ANCIENT EGYPT C. 1500 BC

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. 

---

February 29 

Rutherford B. Hayes writes in his diary that "The exclusion of wine from the list of refreshments (at the White House) has turned out exceedingly well. There is a great deal of dissipation here. At the receptions for the British Minister, and at that of the Mexican Minister, disgraceful things were done by young men made reckless by too much wine.”