May 18th - 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.

  • Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet and polymath was born in 1048.  The is responsible for the verse:
“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou 
Beside me singing in the Wilderness— 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! ”
— Omar Khayyám, The Rubaiyat
  • The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England in 1152 brought good cheap Bordeaux wine to the people of England.
  • Louis Bignon, French chef and agriculturist, and Legion of Honour recipient died in 1906.  He was known for the high quality of wine in his restaurant as well as investing in research on the phylloxera.
  • The Minnesota Dairy and Food Department reports that Ole Olson plead guilty to selling Blackberry Brandy that had been adulterated with coal-tar dye in 1908.  He was fined $40.
  • The French have a saying, « Soleil à la Saint-Éric promet du vin plein les barriques. » or, “Sun at St. Eric’s day promises barrels full of wine.”