January 20th - This Date in Wine History

/
Steel_Pier_at_Night,_Atlantic_City,_New_Jersey.png

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.

  • Enoch L. Johnson was born in 1883.  He was an Atlantic City political and crime boss who was quoted as saying, “We have whisky, wine, women, song and slot machines. I won't deny it and I won't apologize for it. If the majority of the people didn't want them they wouldn't be profitable and they would not exist. The fact that they do exist proves to me that the people want them.”  He was fictionalized in Boardwalk Empire as the character, Nucky Thompson.
  • Baron Philippe de Rothschild died in 1988.
  • California's San Francisco Bay AVA was designated in 1999.
  • The owner of Trump Winery, Donald J. Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States in 2017.