Timeline Wine

Return to home

---

About Wine: http://wine.about.com
Auction: www.winebid.com
Australia: www.winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au
Home Winemaking: www.makewine.com
Local Wine Events: www.localwineevents.com
New Zealand Wine: www.wineoftheweek.com
Sales: www.wine.com
SF Chronicle: www.sfgate.com/wine
SF Wine Trading Co: http://sfwtc.com
Wine Business: www.winebusiness.com
Wine Lovers: www.wineloverspage.com
Wine Market Council: www.wineanswers.com
Wine Searcher: www.winesearcher.com
Wine Spectator: www.winespectator.com
Wine Institute: http://wineinstitute.org

---

In France laws dictate mandate that labels feature the names of the regions and sub-regions where wines are made. In 2003 there were some 400 appellationes d'origine controlées (AOCs).
 (WSJ, 5/30/03, p.A3)

---

8000BC    Wine was produced in the region known as Colchis (later Georgia) as early as this time.
    (Econ, 11/15/08, p.100)

7000BC    Scientists in 2004 found the earliest evidence of winemaking from pottery shards dating from 7,000 BC in northern China.
    (Reuters, 12/7/04)(SFC, 12/7/04, p.A1)

5400BC-5000BC    Archeologists have determined that wine was made in villages in Iran's remote Zagros Mountains about this time. Wine jars were dug up near the ruined village called Hajii Firuz Tepe and analyzed to have contained a retsina type of wine.
    (SFC, 6/6/96, p.A3)(Reuters, 12/7/04)

2137BCE    Oct 22, This is the date of the earliest recorded eclipse according to the Shu King, the book of historical documents of ancient China. Two royal astronomers, Hsi and Ho, failed in their duties to predict the eclipse due to too much rice wine and were executed.
    (SCTS, p.27)

1600BC-1500BC    Art pieces attributed to the Xia Dynasty of China are on exhibit at the Shanghai Museum. These include an ax blade, a three legged food vessel, and 3 wine vessels.
    (WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-16)

c1116BCE    In China an imperial decree stated that it was a requirement of the heavenly powers that people regularly take a moderate amount of alcoholic drink.
    (SFEC, 8/9/98, Z1 p.8)

800BC-700BC        The Languedoc region of France has produced wine since this time. Langue d’oc refers to the language of Occitan spoken in the region. Greeks began planting vineyards in Languedoc around 600BCE.
    (WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)(WSJ, 5/30/03, p.A3)

750BCE    Two Phoenician ships from Tyre carrying amphorae filled with wine sank about this time some 30 miles off the coast of Israel. In 1999 a team led by Robert Ballard discovered the ships at a depth of about 1,500 feet.
    (SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)

206BC-25C    In 2003 China's Xinhua News Agency reported that archaeologists in western China had discovered five earthenware jars of 2,000-year-old rice wine in an ancient Han dynasty tomb (206BCE-25CE), and its bouquet was still strong enough to perk up the nose.
    (AP, 6/21/03)

19BC        A wine jug bearing reference to King Herod was found in an ancient garbage dump near the synagogue at Masada, Israel. The cone-shaped, two-handled jug held about 20 gallons of wine and had been shipped from Italy.
    (SFC, 7/9/96, p.D1)

800-900    Jaber bin Hayyan, an Iraqi polymath, elaborated on algebra (al-jabr) and described "flammable vapours" at the mouths of heated wine vessels.
    (Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)

1141        The Ricasoli family produced Chianti wine.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1381        England’s King Richard II issued a grant specifying tolls from every ship entering London, including "two roundlets of wyne" for any galley passing the Tower.
    (AP, 7/18/09)

1385        In Italy Giovanni di Pietro Antinori branched from his family’s lucrative silk and wool business to join the Florentine wine makers guild. By 2008 the family business had vineyards in Hungary, Chile and California’s Napa Valley.
    (SFC, 4/14/06, p.D1)(WSJ, 4/5/08, p.A6)

1400-1500    Europeans began producing ethereal sounds from wine glasses containing liquids.
    (SFEC,12/28/97, DB p.17)

1521        Nov 20, Arabs attributed a shortage of water in Jerusalem to Jews making wine.
    (MC, 11/20/01)

1540        German vintner records described this year as the “Great Sun Year,” as relentless heat and drought withered the Rhine between Cologne and the Netherlands.
    (SFC, 3/31/05, p.F3)

1551        Spaniards in Chile began producing wine.
    (SFC, 8/31/07, p.F4)

1577        Francisco Hernandez, Spanish explorer traveling through Mexico’s highlands, noted the many uses of the maguey (agave) plant. He cited it as a useful fuel, a material for cloth and ropes, with sap used to make vinegar and wine.
    (Arch, 9/02, p.32)

1593        In Mexico Capt. Don Francisco de Urdiqola started the first vineyard in the valley of Tlaxcaltecas at his El Rosario Hacienda.
    (SFEC, 11/7/99, p.T8)

1600-1700    Cognac 1st appeared when Dutch sea merchants found that they could better preserve white wine shipped from France to northern Europe by distilling it. They then learned the wine got better as it aged in wooden barrels.
    (WSJ, 7/14/03, p.A1)

1626        The F.E. Trimbach winery was established in Ribeauville, Alsace.
    (SFC, 3/31/05, p.F2)

1630        In Hungary Mate Szepsy Laczko described the method for producing Tokaj wine made from botrytized grapes.
    (WSJ, 10/5/00, p.A24)

1638-1715    Dom Perignon, a French monk. He introduced blending, vineyard and cellaring practices that made champagne a better wine.
    (Hem., 10/97, p.104)

1639        Francois Citois, the physician of Cardinal Richelieu, published a book that described the disease colica Pictonum, and noted the prevalence of the disease to the wine region of Poitou, where tart wines needed sweetening.
    (NH, 7/96, p.48)

1639        The Hugel company began producing wine in the Alsatian village of Riquewihr.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R46)(SFC, 6/12/09, p.B3)

1650        According to legend, a Hungarian priest named Mate Szepsi Lacko was the first to make Aszu, a Tokaji wine in 1650, when he delayed the harvest fearing an attack by the Turks. Aszu had actually been mentioned in historical documents from the 1500s.
    (AP, 9/8/04)
xxxx

1660s        The British began to dominate the trade in port wine from Portugal after a political spat with the French denied them the French Bordeaux wines. Brandy was added to the Portuguese wines to fortify them for the Atlantic voyage.
    (SFEC, 1/12/97,  p.T7)(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)

1678        The 1st recorded shipment of Vinho do Porto was made from Portugal to England.
    (SFC, 11/13/03, p.D1)

1660-1670    The British began to dominate the trade in port wine from Portugal after a political spat with the French denied them the French Bordeaux wines. Brandy was added to the Portuguese wines to fortify them for the Atlantic voyage.
    (SFEC, 1/12/97,  p.T7)(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)

1662        Englishman Christopher Merret presented a paper to the Royal Society on making sparkling wine. This was noted in the 1998 "World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine" by Tom Stevenson.
    (WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)

1673        Feb 20, The 1st recorded wine auction was held in London.
    (MC, 2/20/02)

1678        The 1st recorded shipment of Vinho do Porto was made from Portugal to England.
    (SFC, 11/13/03, p.D1)

1688        Persecuted Huguenots, French Protestants, arrived in South Africa and improved the quality of wine production.
    (SSFC, 12/3/00, p.T6)

1690-1700    Particularly severe weather hit Germany and prompted vintners use more wine sweeteners.
    (NH, 7/96, p.51)

1694-1696    An outbreak of colic struck the region around Ulm, Germany. Eberhard Gockel, the city physician, was able to trace the cause to a wine sweetener that used a white oxide of lead.
    (NH, 7/96, p.48)

1696        Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Wurttenburg, Germany, learned of Eberhard Gockel’s findings on lead poisoning in wine and banned all lead-based wine additives.
    (NH, 7/96, p.49)

1697        Eberhard Gockel published: "A Remarkable Account of the Previously Unknown Wine Disease."
    (NH, 7/96, p.49)

1699        The King of Spain, due to competition, banned the production of wine in the Americas, except for that made by the church.
    (SFEC, 11/7/99, p.T8)

1710        The Elector of Hanover commissioned the Hanover Cistern and Fountain, a silver buffet service intended to cool wine. In 1997 it had an estimated value of $2-3 million.
    (SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.4)

1717        Louis Liger (b.1658), French writer, died. His 1700 book “Oeconomie Generale de la Campagne, ou Nouvelle Maison Rustique” included a chapter on French viticulture.
    (SFC, 10/21/04, p.F3)(www.rappaport.it/catalogo.htm)

1729        Ruinart, a French Champagne house, was founded. In 2006 it remained the oldest Champagne house in the world.
    (SFC, 10/13/06, p.F2)

1733        Feb 12, English colonists led by James Oglethorpe founded Savannah, Ga. Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe sailed up the Savannah River with 144 English men, women and children and in the name of King George II chartered the Georgia Crown Colony. He created the town of Savannah, to establish an ideal colony where silk and wine would be produced, based on a grid of streets around six large squares.
    (SFC, 6/25/95, p.T-7)(SFEC,11/30/97, p.T4)(AP, 2/12/98)

1743        French champagne maker Moet was founded.
    (Econ, 3/6/04, Survey p.6)

1765        Hennessy began producing cognac.
    (Econ, 3/6/04, Survey p.6)

1766        The Beekman Arms of Rhinebeck, NY, began serving beer. In 2000 it was the oldest continuously operating tavern in the US.
    (SFEC, 6/25/00, Z1 p.2)

1776        A New York tavern keeper mixed a rum and "cocktail." The name was derived from rooster feathers used as ornaments for glasses.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)

c1776-1781    Molly Corbin manned a cannon during the American Revolution and was wounded. She was cited for bravery and sent to the Invalid Regiment at West Point where she received half the male pay. She was also denied the daily rum ration until her complaints were heard.
    (SFEC, 6/4/00, Z1 p.3)

1779        Sep 13, Frederick II of Prussia issued a manifesto in which he bemoaned the increased use of coffee and called for more consumption of beer.
    (SFC, 1/30/99, p.D3)

1787        Thomas Jefferson toured Bordeaux while serving as US ambassador to France. He purchased cases Haut-Brion, d’Yquiem, and Margaux for himself and George Washington.
    (WSJ, 9/1/06, p.A9)

1789        cJul 11, In France just days before the Bastille was taken the tavern keepers and wine merchants of Belleville, angered by levies on food and drink, sacked the local tax collector’s office.
    (SFEC, 6/28/98, p.T8)

1789        Sep 11, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. secretary of the treasury. During his tenure, Hamilton established the National Bank, introduced an excise tax, suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion and spearheaded the effort for the federal government to assume the debts of the states. In the presidential election of 1800, Hamilton broke the deadlock between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr by supporting Jefferson. The enmity between Hamilton and his longtime political enemy Burr grew worse during the 1804 campaign for governor of New York.
    (AP, 9/11/97)(HNPD, 1/11/99)

1790        In Porto, Portugal, the House of Sandeman winery was found by the Scot, George Sandeman.
    (SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)

1794        Napoleon’s occupying army in Maastricht, Netherlands, took back to France a giant dinosaur head that was found in a dark recess of St. Peter’s mountain in 1780. It was named the Mosasaurus and roamed the seas some 70 million years ago. The head was lugged to the home of Theodorus Godding, a canon at the local church. The French say that he swapped it to Napoleon for 600 bottles of wine. Records however seem to indicate otherwise.
    (NYT, 6/7/96, p.A4)

1795        Jim Beam, US producer of fine Bourbon whiskey was founded.
    (Hem., Dec. '95, p.82)

1797        John Anderson, a Scottish farm manager, convinced George Washington that distilling whiskey would make money. In a six-week season each spring, Washington’s men netted about a million shad and herring from the Potomac River. The catch was then salted, packed in barrels, and exported. His diversified farming was less successful, largely because of his long absences from Mount Vernon.
    (AM, 9/01, p.80)(HNQ, 8/30/02)

1797        The wine bottles of Chateau Lafite that date back to this year are recorked every 25 years to safeguard the wine and prevent deterioration caused by oxidation through decayed corks.
    (WSJ, 11/26/97, p.A12)

1799        Dec 14, George Washington (66), the first president of the United States (1789-97), died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67. By 8 p.m. he was aware that he was dying, whispering, "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go." Washington died at approximately 10:30 p.m., December 14, 1799, at the age of 67. He died from the incompetence of physicians who bled him to death while fighting pneumonia. Richard Brookhiser authored "Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington." The Washingtons at this time had 317 slaves. His 5 stills in Virginia turned out some 12,000 gallons of corn whiskey a year.
    (A&IP, ESM, p.16)(AP, 12/14/97)(WSJ, 11/6/98, p.W15)(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.8)(SFC, 12/11/99, p.B6)(MC, 12/14/01)

1804        Meriwether Lewis and William Clark packed up 5,555 rations of flour, and 120 gallons of whiskey for their western journey of exploration that would last 2 ½ years. In 1996 Stephen Ambrose published an account of their trip titled: "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West." The cutthroat trout, Onchorhynchus clarki lewisi, was found to be highly abundant. In 1997 the fish was on the brink of extinction.
    (WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-12)(SFC, 5/21/97, p.A2)

1809        Jan 19, Edgar Allan Poe (d.1949), American writer, was born in Boston. His father, David Poe, was an Irish-American actor and abandoned his family shortly after Edgar’s birth. His mother, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, died in 1811 and he grew up with a foster family. Poe studied briefly at the University of Virginia, but then he quarreled with his foster father and went to Boston in 1827, where he published his first volume of poetry anonymously. In the early 1840s Poe became known for his lyrical, brooding poems and detective stories, such as "The Gold Bug" and "Murders at the Rue Morgue." In fact, he is recognized as the father of the modern detective story. Poe was unafraid to criticize literary practices of the time, stressing the importance of artistic value more than moral value. After battles with alcoholism and his wife Virginia's illness and death, Poe became depressed but continued to write. He became engaged again in 1849 but soon died at the age of 40. His best known stories include: "Fall of the House of Usher " and "The Tell-Tale Heart." His most famous poems are "The Raven" and Annabel Lee." "I hold that a long poem does not exist. I maintain that the phrase, 'a long poem,' is simply a flat contradiction in terms."
    (CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.38)(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T5)(AP, 1/19/98)(HNPD, 1/19/99)(AP, 1/29/99)

1817         Work began on the Erie Canal, more properly named the New York State Barge Canal. The canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson and opened on October 26, 1825. The canal was proposed by NY Gov. Dewitt Clinton and detractors called it "Clinton's Folly." Workers were paid a quart of whiskey a day plus $1. [see 1826]
    (WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)(HN, 7/4/98)(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)(SFEC, 12/27/98, Z1 p.8)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.8)

1818        In Russia the Smirnoff family went into the vodka business.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1819        In Savannah Chatham Artillery Punch was served to Pres. James Monroe. It was a concoction of Catawba, rum, gin, brandy, rye whiskey, strong tea, brown sugar, Benedictine, juices of oranges and lemons, Maraschino cherries and champagne.
    (SFEC,11/30/97, p.T4)

1822        Dec 27, Louis Pasteur (d.1895), French chemist and microbiologist, was born in Dole, France. One of his several monumental contributions to science and industry was pasteurization, the process of heating wine, beer and milk to kill microorganisms that cause fermentation and disease. Pasteur also developed important vaccines and his work on molecular asymmetry led to the science of stereochemistry. He was the first to vaccinate animals for anthrax and chicken cholera, and in 1885 he proved that his rabies vaccine could be used successfully on humans when he saved the life of a 9-year-old boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog. The Pasteur Institute was formed in Paris in 1888 for research on rabies. Pasteur ran the institute until his death in 1895.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1055)(AP, 12/27/97)(HNPD, 12/27/98)

1825        Franciscan missionaries planted vineyards north of San Francisco to make sacramental wine.
    (WSJ, 4/16/97, p.CA1)

1830        American alcohol consumption reached 7.1 gallons per capita.
    (WSJ, 10/5/98, p.A28)

1831        James Busby, Scottish-born father of Australian viticulture, collected 680 different vines from botanical gardens in Montpellier, Paris and London and brought them to Australia. These included the syrah grape, called shiraz in Australia.
    (SFC, 5/5/05, p.F10)

1838        Jan 26, Tennessee became the 1st state to prohibit alcohol.
    (MC, 1/26/02)

1851        Jun 2, Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol. By the Civil War 13 Northern states had bans on alcohol sales. In 1998 Thomas R. Pegram authored "Battling Demon Rum," a history of anti-alcohol movements in the US.
    (AP, 6/2/97)(WSJ, 10/5/98, p.A28)

1851        Jacob Gundlach arrived in SF and soon established a brewery. In 1858 he bought a winery in Sonoma.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1852        Almaden Vineyards was begun by Etienne Thee, an émigré from France, who settled near Los Gatos, Ca.
    (SFC, 1/24/08, p.C3)

1852        In Poland Ignacy Lukasiewicz, a druggist, found oil seeping from the ground and in an attempt to make vodka distilled it to produce the first kerosene.
    (SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)

1853        May 11, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild of England purchased Chateau Mouton in Bordeaux, France, for 1,125,000 gold francs.
    (www.pageaday.com)

1853        Oct 13, Lillie Langtry (d.1929), British actress, was born. "The sentimentalist ages far more quickly than the person who loves his work and enjoys new challenges." She started the California Guenoc and Langtry Estate wineries.
    (AP, 7/27/98)(HN, 10/13/00)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.C8)

1853        French wines were first ranked at the order of Napoleon. The top grades were selected on the basis of price, not taste.
    (SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T4)

1854        Colonel Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian Count, acquired several hundred acres of the old Rancho Feliz in California's San Andreas Valley. He planted 30 acres of zinfandel and muscat grapes along with 20,000 fruit trees. He later moved to Sonoma.
    (Ind, 5/11/02, 5A)

1854        Pierre Pellier, having settled in Santa Clara Valley, planted cuttings from France and established his 1st San Jose, Ca., vineyards. In 1881 his daughter married vintner Pierre Mirrasou. Mirrassou sold its brand name to Gallo in 2002.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)(SFC, 8/5/04, p.B7)

1855        Napoleon III ordered up a list of the best wines of Bordeaux and ranked the best according to quality and price. Those at the top became known as the first growths and included Chateaux Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, and Margaux. Mouton Rothschild was elevated in 1973.
    (WSJ, 4/23/04, p.A1)(SFC, 10/1/04, p.W6)

1856        The D’Agostini Winery in Amador County, Ca. was founded. It later became the Sobon Estate Winery.
    (SFC, 12/10/95, p.T-1)

1857        Count Agoston Haraszthy founded the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, Ca.
    (WCG, p.67)

1857        In Germany H. Sichel & Sohne, the producers of the popular Blue Nun white wine, was founded.
    (SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.4)

1857        In Lebanon the modern wine industry began when a group of Jesuit monks founded Chateau Ksara in the Bekaa Valley.
    (SFC, 1/11/08, p.F4)

1858        Jacob Gundlach bought a vineyard in Sonoma, Ca., and called it Rhinefarm. Charles Bundschu from Mannheim, Germany, known for his prose and keen business sense, joined the company in 1868, and became part of the family when he married Jacob Gundlach’s daughter Francisca in 1875.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundlach_Bundschu)
1858        Charles Krug, a German immigrant, decided to put Napa wine onto a business footing using the Mission grapes. He served a short apprenticeship under Col. Agoston Haraszthy in Sonoma.
    (WCG, 7/95, p.21)

1859        In Australia the Yalumba Winery in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, was begun by the Sam Smith family.
    (SFEC, 10/25/98, p.T5)

1860        In France the Yonne Department had almost 99,000 acres of grapevines for wine. Diseases such as oidium and phyloxera destroyed the Chablis vines in the late 19th century. The Carmenére grape was wiped out in France. In 1994 it was found to be thriving in Chile.
    (SFC, 7/16/97, Z1 p.4)(WSJ, 12/28/01, p.A17)

1861        Young’s "Scientific Secrets" was published. It is a book of recipes and formulas for furniture polish, beers, wines, and directions on interpreting flowers’ "language."
    (CM, 12/94, p.59)

1861        Col. Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian immigrant to the US who settled in Sonoma, California, was asked by Calif. Governor John Downey to go to Europe and to find sample cuttings of the best European varieties of grapes. Haraszthy’s methodology, personality and perseverance earned him the name of Father of California Wines.
    (WCG, p.58)

1861        In Russia Dmitri Ivanovich Mendelyev, chemist, determined that the maximum solubility of alcohol in water occurs at a ratio of 40% to 60%. This became the ideal mixture for sipping vodka for Russians.
    (WSJ, 2/2/98, p.A23)

1862        In Napa Valley, Ca., Jacob Schram (1826-1905) purchases 200 acres on Diamond Mountain and founded the Schramsberg Winery. He used Chinese laborers to clear the forests, plant the vineyards and dig the caves to store his wine. In 1965 Jack and Jamie Davies purchased the winery.
    (SFEM, 10/27/96, p.40)(SFC, 12/22/05, p.F1)(SFC, 1/18/08, p.A12)

1862        Baron James Forester, a wealthy Scottish port wine shipper, capsized on the Douro River in Portugal and was dragged to the river bottom by his money belt full of gold coins.
    (SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T7)

1862-1906    Bitters bottles were manufactured in Tiffin, Ohio and Omaha, Neb. to hold "American Life Bitters," an alcoholic concoction of herbs and gin that was marketed as medicine.
    (SFC, 6/3/98, Z1 p.6)

1864        Giovanni Foppiano arrived in California from Genoa. In 1896 he purchased the Riverside Farm in Healdsburg and founded Foppiano Vineyards.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1864        Phyloxerra was 1st noted on grapevines in Roquemaure, France. It ravaged the vineyards there for nearly 20 years. In 1872 it reached Austria and Portugal. In 1875 it appeared in Australia and in 1886 in South Africa.
    (SSFC, 3/27/05, p.E3)

1866        Jul 29, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot (b.1777), head of the Clicquot champagne business, died. She was widowed at age 27 and transformed her husbands struggling business into one of the great champagne houses of France. In 2008 Tilar J. Mazzeo authored “The Widow Clicquot.”
    (WSJ, 11/5/08, p.A21)(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbe-Nicole_Clicquot-Ponsardin)

1869        Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welsh, a wine steward at a church in Vineland, pasteurized Concord grape juice to produce an unfermented sacramental wine. He later came to be known as the father of the fruit juice industry.
    (SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.8)

1871        In southern California vineyards were planted at the Sierra Madre Winery at Lamanda Park. In 1885 Albert Brigdon and J.F. Clark built a winery there and proceeded to win numerous awards including a gold medal in Paris in 1900. The winery close in 1923.
    (WSJ, 2/28/09, p.W7)

1872        May 10, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman nominated for U.S. president. Thomas Nast depicted her as "Mrs. Satan." Woodhull adhered to a diet prescribed by Sylvester Graham, known for his ginger-colored crackers. Sylvester preached against demon rum and died at age 57 after administering himself a medicinal treatment with considerable liquor.
    (SFEC, 3/8/98, Par p.14-16)(SFC, 10/17/98, p.E5)(HN, 5/10/98)

1872        Jun 4, Harvey Flint (d.1882) patented his Quaker Bitters, a general cure-all with 21.4% alcohol. He had recently left a family furniture business in Providence, Rhode Island, and began making Quaker Bitters under the name Flint & Co.
    (SFC, 8/8/07, p.G2)(www.bottlebooks.com/temperance/temperance.htm)

1872        Jun 17, Canadian George Hoover hauled in a wagon load of whiskey and set up a tent shop called Hoover’s Bar five miles west of Fort Dodge. It was the founding business of Dodge City. The town up to this time had been dry.
    (SFC, 6/13/98, p.E4)(HN, 6/17/98)

1872        A police raid in Glasgow, Scotland, found only 2 pubs in 30 serving real Scotch whiskey.
    (WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A7)

1873        Adolph Coors selected the waters of Clear Creek, Colorado, for his dream of high producing a high quality beer.
    (SFEC, 4/30/00, BR p.4)

1873        Asa T. Soule of Rochester, NY, concocted the alcohol laced Hop Bitters patent medicine and made a fortune. The Univ. of Rochester later declined a $100,000 offer to change its name to Hops Bitters Univ.
    (SFC, 12/11/99, p.B6)

1874        The first national convention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was held. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was established to promote the movement for prohibition in the U.S. It shut down saloons all over the country because they believed that male drinking was the cause of prostitution, child abuse and poverty. Under the leadership of its second president, Frances Willard, the WCTU grew to a nationwide movement with 200,000 members, the largest and most socially acceptable women’s organization of the time. Although prohibition was the WCTU’s primary mission, they also campaigned for woman suffrage, reasoning that if women could vote, they would reform American society for the betterment of all. The WCTU spurred the founding in 1893 of the Anti-Saloon League. On December 18, 1917, the U.S. Congress adopted and submitted to the states an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic liquors. The 18th Amendment was declared ratified on January 29, 1919 and went into effect on January 16, 1920. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
    (SFC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.6)(HNQ, 11/189)(HNPD, 8/13/00)

1874        In France the Bordeaux Ecole de Management was founded. In 2002 the school introduced a master’s program in business administration for wine.
    (WSJ, 3/19/02, p.B1)

1875        Lydia Estes Pinkham (1819-1883) was in her mid-fifties when economic hardship forced her and her family to begin selling bottles of a homemade health remedy. Mrs. Pinkham’s tonic, formulated from herbs and 20% alcohol as a "solvent and preservative," was first sold as a cure for "female complaints." Business grew as the family aggressively marketed their product with trade cards which linked Pinkham’s Compound with the patriotism and progress represented by the Brooklyn Bridge. Lydia Pinkham was probably the best-known woman in America at the time. Her medicines remained tremendously popular until the 1930s, when medical science and public awareness of the compound’s unfounded claims reduced sales to a trickle.
    (HNPD, 6/30/98)

1875        The Schmitt brewery was built by an innkeeper for his restaurant in Singen in the German state of Thuringia. Richard Schmitt buys the brewery in May 1885 for DM9,900. Today it is run by the Obstfelder family and produces around 26,000 gallons of beer annually.
    (Hem., Nov.’95, p.113-114)

1875        Calgary, Canada, was founded by Troop F of the royal Northwest Mounted Police. They built a log fort at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers to control illegal whiskey traders operating from outposts with names like Fort Whoop-Up.
    (SFEC, 6/25/00, p.T11)

1876        Adolphus Busch, a German immigrant beer-maker, licensed the name of Budweiser in America. The name came from the town of Budweis in Bohemia. The town was later renamed Ceske Budejovice but a local brewery used the Budweiser name for its beer.
    (SFC, 4/9/98, p.A12)

1876        Two brothers from Italy named Simi founded the Simi Winery just north of Healdsburg, Ca. It is currently owned by Moet-Hennessy / Louis Vuitton.
    (WCG, 7/95, p.78)

1878        May 25, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born and began his dancing career in childhood. The young song-and-dance man learned his trade in beer gardens, traveling companies and later on the vaudeville circuit. Robinson performed only within the black community until he was 50 years old, when his unique style of tap-dancing, including his signature "stair dance," crossed over to white audiences. Robinson, who continued to perform into his late sixties, made 14 Hollywood motion pictures, playing both stereotypical black roles and a handful of leads. He died of a chronic heart condition in 1949.
    (WSJ, 5/19/98, p.A20)(HNPD, 5/26/99)

1879        Genesee Brewing began producing beer in Rochester, NY.
    (SFC, 3/13/00, p.B2)

1879        Gustave Niebaum, a Finnish sea captain, founded the Inglenook Winery near Rutherford in the Napa Valley of California. Niebaum had made a fortune in the Alaskan fur trade. His Inglenook Chateau, designed by Hamden McIntyre, opened in 1887. The winery was later sold in pieces to movie director, Francis Ford Coppola, who bought a large part in 1975 and the rest of it in 1994-95. In 1994 Constellation Brands acquired Inglenook Vineyards in the Central Valley and in 2008 sold the winery to the Wine Group of San Francisco along with Almaden Vineyards in a deal valued at $134 million.
    (WSJ, 11/7/95, p.A-20)(SFC, 1/24/08, p.C3)(SSFC, 4/26/09, p.E6)

c1880        The Durif grape was named by Francois Durif, French botanist and grape breeder, as the result of an unintended crossing between two varieties. California vines labeled Petite Sirah were later identified as Durif. In 1998 the Durif grape was identified as a cross between the French grape Peloursin and Syrah
    (SFC, 1/20/05, p.F5)

1881        Feb 19, Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
    (AP, 2/19/98)

1881        The story of California’s Asti Winery began as Italian Swiss Colony when Italian immigrant Andrea Sbarboro invited anybody of Italian or Swiss descent to join him and work on land at Asti in northern California to produce wine and share profits. Their first vintage in 1886 was called Tipo Chianti. In 2004 Jack Florence authored “Legacy of a Village: The Italian Swiss Colony Winery and People of Asti, California.”
    (SSFC, 5/31/09, p.E6)

1881-1882    Dr. Muller of Germany was said to be working at the Swiss Geisenheim viticultural station when he made the crossing that joined the late-ripening Riesling and the early-ripening and prolific Silvaner. The grape became know as Muller-Thurgau. Müller-Thurgau entered the well-kept records of Germany's vineyards in 1921, but it was not until a major symposium on the crossing was held at Alzey in 1938 that it gained any widespread acceptance.
    (www.winepressnw.com/features/story/4842844p-4779998c.html)

1883        Lydia Estes Pinkham (b.1819) died. She was in her mid-fifties when economic hardship forced her and her family to begin selling bottles of a homemade health remedy. Mrs. Pinkham's tonic, formulated from herbs and 20% alcohol as a "solvent and preservative," was first sold in 1875 as a cure for "female complaints."
    (HNPD, 6/30/01)(WSJ, 4/23/02, p.D7)

1883        Wente Winery was founded in California. Carl Wente bought 49 acres in Livermore and started a winery.
    (SFC, 9/27/96, p.E3)(SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1883        In Chile the Concha y Toro wineries were founded with vines brought from France.
    (SFEC, 10/27/96, p.T9)

1885        In California the Far Niente winery was built in Napa Valley. In 2008 it was among the a maverick group of local wineries to embrace solar power.
    (SFC, 5/29/08, p.A1)

1886        The three Korbel brothers built a lumber mill in Guerneville, California. The mill prospered logging redwoods and specialized in fancy moldings used in many of the Victorian homes of San Francisco. The property was acquired by the Heck family in 1954 who began producing sparkling wines.
    (SFC, 4/9/96, zz1 p.3)

1887        Nov 8, Doc Holliday, who fought on the side of the Earp brothers during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral sixty years earlier, died of tuberculosis after waking from a 57 day delirium in Glenwood Springs, Colo. He downed a glass of whiskey and said: "I’ll be damned!" and died. In 2001 Bruce Olds authored the novel "Bucking the Tiger," based on the life of Holliday.
    (HN, 11/6/98)(MesWP)(SFC, 7/29/00, p.E3)(SSFC, 9/9/01, DB p.70)

1888        In Mexico the Santo Tomas Winery was founded near Ensenada.
    (SFC, 9/27/96, p.E3)

1891        Montaudon, a French champagne maker, began operations. In 2008 it was acquired by LVMH, a luxury goods conglomerate.
    (Econ, 8/22/09, p.59)(www.champagnemontaudon.com/uk/home_uk.html)

1893        Samuele Sebastiani arrived in California from Tuscany. By 1904 he saved up enough money to buy a winery in Sonoma.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1895        Edoardo Seghesio planted his 1st vineyard in the Alexander Valley of northern California. (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1896        Sep 24, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. He wrote about the "Jazz Age" between World War I and World War II. He published his first novel in 1920, "This Side of Paradise," and gained instant acclaim and celebrity, marrying Zelda Sayre shortly afterward. In 1924, Fitzgerald wrote what has become his best-known novel, "The Great Gatsby." Although it was not especially popular at the time, as more readers began to appreciate the novel for its perspective of how materialism drives people, it became an American classic. As years passed, Fitzgerald battled alcoholism and his wife sought treatment for her mental illness. He died in Hollywood at age 45 in 1940. "If you're strong enough, there are no precedents."
    (HFA, ‘96, p.38)(AP, 9/24/97)(HNPD, 9/24/98)(HN, 9/24/98)(AP, 8/16/99)

1896        Giovanni Foppiano founded Foppiano Vineyards.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D4)

1898        Frederick Hess, publisher of the German-language California Democrat, built a stone winery on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley. He named it La Jota Vineyard after Rancho la Jota, the Spanish land grant on which it was situated.
    (SFC, 11/10/05, p.F3)

1900        Frenchman Georges de Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard near Rutherford in Napa Valley Ca.
    (SFC, 10/10/08, p.F3)

c1900        Florida’s wineries were wiped out by Pierce’s disease. Growers then switched to orange trees.
    (SFC,11/22/97, p.D4)

1901        Nov 24, Andre Victor Tchelistcheff, winemaker, was born.
    (MC, 11/24/01)

1901        Battista Bianco, the mother Giuseppe and Mike Gallo’s father, founded the Bianco Winery Company in California.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D1)

1902        Apr 13, Philippe de Rothschild, manager (Bordeaux Vineyard), was born in Paris.
    (MC, 4/13/02)

1904        Samuele Sebastiani purchased a winery in Sonoma, Ca.
    (WSJ, 4/16/97, p.CA1)

1906        Giuseppe and Mike Gallo founded the Gallo Wine Company in California.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D1)

1906        The Pagani Brothers established a winery in Sonoma, Ca. In 1970 the Lee family opened Kenwood Vineyards on the site. Some of the Kenwood grapes came from vineyards on Jack London’s original ranch in Glen Ellen.
    (SFC, 11/2/07, p.F3)

1906        Ex-Lax, the laxative, was first sold. Its main ingredient, phenolphthalein, was later found to be a cancer risk and it was yanked from the shelves in 1997. The laxative qualities of the chemical were thought to be first discovered accidentally by Hungarians in 1902 who considered using it as an additive in wine.
    (WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A1)

1908        Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa Valley inked a long term contract to provide altar wine to the Catholic archdiocese of San Francisco.
    (SFC, 10/10/08, p.F3)

1910        In SF William T. “Cocktail Bill” Boothby (d.1930), devised his Boothby cocktail at the Palace Hotel. It was essentially a Manhattan with a Champagne float.
    (SFC, 12/14/07, p.F2)

1913        Jun 18, Robert Mondavi was born in the mining town of Virginia, Minn. The family moved to California in 1921 and went into the grape business in Lodi.
    (SFC, 6/18/03, p.A16)

1913        Jack London settled in Glen Ellen, California. His book "Valley of the Moon" described the local area. He built a model farm in the Glen Ellen hillsides and called it Beauty Ranch. the property included a man-made lake, blacksmith shop, cooperage, winery, barns, silos, bath-houses, and a deluxe pig sty. A magnificent mansion called Wolf House was to crown the ranch but it burned down just before he moved in.
    (WCG, p.68)

1913        In Denmark the bronze statue of the Little Mermaid, a character from a Hans Christian Anderson story, was installed in the harbor. It was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, founder of the Carlsberg Beer Co., and created by Edvard Eriksen. [see 1964]
    (SFC,11/5/97, p.C2)

1914        US Navy Secretary Josephus Daniels substituted grape juice for the daily rum ration.
    (SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)

1916        Nov 3, On the Baltic off of Finland a German U-boat under Captain Bruno Hoppe ordered Captain E.B. Eriksson of the Swedish schooner Junketing to halt for an inspection. Beverages headed for the Russians were discovered and the ship was evacuated and sunk. In 1998 some 1,000 bottles of 1907 Headpiece Monopole champagne were recovered, of which 500 were preserved in drinking condition. Hoppe later sank the schooner Aker. The 66-ton Junketing was sunk in the Baltic Sea by a German U-boat. It carried 44 creates of champagne, 67 barrels of cognac, and 17 barrels of port wine intended for the Russian army. Divers planned to recover the cargo in 1998.
    (SFC, 7/11/98, p.A14)(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A19)(AP, 9/21/98)

1916        Nov 16, French adjutant-chief Eugene Rouges died with several of his men when a German artillery shell exploded in their trench in Gradesnica, Macedonia. In the 1990s villagers began finding a liquid fortune in vintage cognac buried in the old trenches.
    (AP, 7/23/07)

1916        Dec 16, Gregory Rasputin  (45), the Russian monk and confidant to Czarina Alexandra, was assassinated by Prince Yussoupov. The monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen. He was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide, then shot a number of times and finally drowned. A TV version of his story was made for HBO in 1996. [see Dec 30]
    (WSJ, 3/25/96, p.A-15)(AP, 12/16/97)

1916        Dec 30, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin drowned when he was thrown through a hole in the ice of the Neva River. When Rasputin was introduced to the Russian royal family in 1905, he demonstrated an ability to heal the royal son Alexis and was then welcomed into the family circle. Rasputin was considered a holy peasant, but his belief that sinning was necessary for salvation led him to seduce women and other scandalous behavior. A conspiracy, believing Rasputin had too much influence on the empress, formed to assassinate him, and on the night of December 29-30, they poisoned his wine--but he did not die. They shot him twice, but when he still refused to die, they drowned him. [see Dec 16]
    (HNPD, 12/30/98)

1917        The Seelbach Cocktail was created at the Seelbach hotel in Louisville, Ky. The recipe was later lost until 1995 when a hotel manager rediscovered the formula.
    (SFC, 7/28/05, p.F6)

1918        Jan 8,    Mississippi became the first state to ratify the proposed 18th amendment to the US Constitution, which established Prohibition.
    (AP, 1/8/08)

1919          Jan 13, California voted to ratify the Prohibition amendment.
    (HN, 1/13/99)

1919          Jan 16, Prohibition became law in the US with the passage of the Volstead Act, which enforced and defined the 18thAmendment. It was passed over President Wilson's veto with the necessary two-thirds majority of state ratification. [see Jan 16,1920]
    (HFA, '96, p.22)(WUD, 1994, p.1681)(WSJ,8/22/96, p.A14)(MC, 1/16/02)
1919        Jan 16, Nebraska, Wyoming and Missouri became the 36th, 37th and 38th states to ratify Prohibition, which went into effect a year later. Prohibition became law in the US with the passage of the Volstead Act on Oct 28, which enforced and defined the 18th Amendment. It was passed over President Wilson's veto with the necessary two-thirds majority of state ratification.
    (WSJ, 8/22/96, p.A14)(AP, 1/16/98)

1919        Oct 8, The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Bill. It was named for Representative Andrew Volstead of Minnesota and enforced the ban on the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. This rang in the era of prohibition.
    (HN, 10/8/98)(MC, 10/8/01)

1919        Oct 26, President Wilson's veto of Prohibition Enforcement Bill was overridden.
    (MC, 10/26/01)

1920        Jan 15, The Dry Law (Prohibition) went into effect in the United States. Selling liquor and beer became illegal under the 18th amendment. [see Jan 16]
    (HN, 1/15/99)(SFC, 10/13/99, p.E7)

1920        Jan 16, Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment. Alcohol was outlawed in the US with the passage of the 18th amendment. [It was made law on Jan 16,1919 but became effective on this day.]
    (AP, 1/16/98)(SFC, 4/7/96, p.B-11)

1921        Nov 23, President Harding signed the Willis Campell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbade doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.
    (HN, 11/23/98)

1921        Dec 6, James Showan, a wealthy NY shipbuilder, was arrested after his palatial yacht was seized off the California coast with more than 100 cases of whiskey.
    (SFC, 10/14/99, p.C5)

1922        Louis M. Martini founded the L. M. Martini Grape Products Co. in Kingsburg, Fresno Ct., California, to sell grape juice, concentrates, sacramental and medicinal wines.
    (SFC, 12/19/02, p.D1)

1923        Nov 4, Alfred Heineken, beer brewer, was born.
    (MC, 11/4/01)

1923         Nov 8, Adolf Schicklgruber (Hitler) launched his first attempt to seize power with a failed coup in Munich, Germany, that came to be known as the Beer-Hall Putsch. He proclaimed himself chancellor and Ludendorff dictator. After the unsuccessful beerhall putsch, he wound up in jail writing "Mein Kampf." Mein Kampf, was sub-titled Four-and-Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice. The Nazi dictator wrote much of Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in prison in 1923 and 1924 for attempting to overthrow the German government. The work became the bible of the Nazi Party and a blueprint for the Third Reich.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1923)(AP, 11/8/97)(HN, 11/6/98)(HNQ, 5/5/99)

1924        Apr 1, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for "Beer Hall Putsch." Gen Ludendorff was acquitted for leading the botched Nazi's "Beer Hall Putsch" in the German state of Bavaria
    (HN, 4/1/98)(MC, 4/1/02)

1926          Mar, A nationwide poll on prohibition showed that people favored a modification of the Volstead Act by a margin of 9 to 1.
    (SFC, 3/16/01, WBb p.4)

1927        Nov 2, In San Francisco prohibition agents raided a brewery at 1407 San Bruno Ave. with nearly 2,000 gallons of beer brewing in 4 500-gallon vats.
    (SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)

1927        Dock Boggs, singer and banjo player, released his "Country Blues" swamp music album. It included the song "Old Rub Alcohol Blues."
    (SFEM, 3/22/98, p.8)

1927        French law set the boundaries of the country’s Champagne region.
    (WSJ, 8/12/05, p.B1)

1928        May 2, In Emeryville, Ca., a raid on a brewery next door to the home of Police Chief Ed. J. Carey uncovered 5,000 gallons of unbottled beer and 3,000 bottles of beer. Jimmy Reese, star 2nd baseman of the Oakland Coast League and son-in-law of Chief Carey, emerged from a cottage in front of the warehouse and demanded to know what the raid was about. Alameda Ct. DA Earl Warren filed a federal complaint against Carey.
    (SFC, 5/2/03, p.E3)

1929        Feb 14, In Chicago the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a garage of the Moran gang as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down. Police found seven men shot to death in a North Chicago garage. With the exception of one, the men were working under George "Bugs" Moran, a well-known bootlegger and gangster, and staunch rival of Al "Scarface" Capone. Members of Capone’s gang lured the victims into the garage under the guise of selling cheap alcohol. Then two of Capone’s men, dressed up as police officers, staged a raid. Believing them to be real, Moran’s outfit turned over its weapons, turned to face the wall and waited for the arrest. It was at that point that the hit on Moran’s men took place. Neighbors heard the gunfire, but assumed the police were involved when Capone’s costumed officers escorted the gunmen outside and together, they all fled the scene.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1929)(AP, 2/14/98)(HNQ, 2/14/02)

1930        Jul 29, The US Coast Guard towed the Canadian rum-runner Ray Roberts into SF with a cargo of 1,050 cases of whiskey.
    (SFC, 7/29/05, p.F7)

1930        In Lebanon the Musar vineyard was founded.
    (SFC, 1/11/08, p.F4)

1930        In Mexico Pres. Pascual Ortiz Rubio was wounded in an assassination attempt the day he took office. From this point till 2000 the sale and public display of alcoholic beverages were banned during patriotic events.
    (SFC, 9/16/00, p.A14)

1930s        Adolph Parducci founded his winery in Ukiah, Ca. The family sold the business in 1972. In 2004 it was bought by the Mendocino Wine Co.
    (SFEM, 10/27/96, p.40)(SFC, 9/8/06, p.F4)

1933          Feb 17, US Senate accepted the Blaine Act ending prohibition.
    (MC, 2/17/02)

1933          Feb 20, The House of Representatives completed congressional action on an amendment to repeal Prohibition. [see Apr 7]
    (AP, 2/20/98)

1933        Feb, The US Congress passed the 21st amendment to repeal the 18th amendment, which outlawed alcohol.
    (SFC, 4/7/96, p.B-11)

1933        Mar 22, During Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine & beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal. [see Feb 20, Apr 7, Dec 5]
    (AP, 3/22/97)(HN, 3/22/97)

1933        Apr 7, "Near beer" (3.2 beer) became legal after FDR signed an amendment to the Volstead Act, which had made drinking alcohol a federal crime. Prohibition ended when Utah became the 38th state to ratify 21st Amendment.  [see Dec 5]
    (SFC, 4/7/96, p.B-11)(HN, 4/7/97)(MC, 4/7/02)

1933        Dec 5, Prohibition was repealed--much to the delight of thirsty revelers--when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The nationwide prohibition of the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages was established in January 1919 with passage of the 18th Amendment. Prohibition's supporters gradually became disenchanted with it as the illegal manufacture and sale of liquor fostered a wave of criminal activity. By 1932, the Democratic Party's platform called for the repeal of Prohibition. In February 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing the 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th and with Utah's vote in December, Prohibition ended. Three-quarters of the states approved the repeal of the 18th amendment and FDR proclaimed the end of Prohibition.
    (SFC, 4/7/96, p.B-11)(AP, 12/5/97)(HNPD, 12/5/98)

1933        Ernst and Julio Gallo founded the Gallo winery in Modesto, Ca.
    (SFC, 3/24/00, p.B3)

1935        Jan 24, The 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," was sold by Krueger Brewing Co.
    (MC, 1/24/02)

1935        May 12, Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio by "Bill W.," a stockbroker, and "Dr. Bob S.," a heart surgeon. [see June 10]
    (HN, 5/12/01)

1935        Brother Timothy FSC (1910-2004) was transferred to Mont La Salle to become the wine chemist for Christian Brothers.
    (SFC, 12/3/04, p.B7)

1935        France passed a set of laws known as Appellation d’Origine Controlee (controlled place of origin). The AOC laws were meant to protect growers and properly identify a wine’s origin. They were not intended as an indicator of quality.
    (SFC, 1/8/97, zz-1 p.4)

1937        Jul 2, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan left Lae in Papua, New Guinea and disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator. The two had set out in Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra, taking off from Oakland, Calif., for Miami on May 21. They flew across the Atlantic from Brazil to Africa, then reached Calcutta on June 17, having made 15 stops thus far. They failed to arrive at their scheduled stop at Howland Island. Radio operators received messages from Earhart saying that they had to be close and were circling, searching for land, but radio contact was lost and the two were never heard from again. Noonan was alcoholic and had been on a binge the night before. Radioman Leo Bellarts was the last person to communicate with Earhart. Errors from the US Coast Guard cutter Itasca were later identified as contributing to the disappearance.
    (SFC, 3/1/97, p.A8) (SFC, 5/20/97, p.A12) (AP, 7/2/97) (SFEC, 7/6/97, p.B10) (HNPD, 7/2/99)(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A1,11)

1938        Aug 16, Robert Johnson (27), bluesman, musician and king of the Mississippi Delta blues, died 3 days after ingesting whiskey laced with poison (probably strychnine). He has 2 grave sites around Morgan City. Columbia Records issued the first Robert Johnson LP in 1961 titled "King of the Delta Blues Singers" and "Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings" in 1990. His music is on "The Complete Plantation Recordings" (Chess/MCA). Peter Guralnick later wrote his biography. His tunes included "Love in Vain," "Cross Road Blues" and "Ramblin on My Mind." In 1998 the video documentary "Can’t You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life and Music of Robert Johnson" was released. In 1999 Robert Mugge premiered his film "Hellhounds On My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson."
    (HT, 5/97, p.41)(NH, 9/96, p.54)(HT, 5/97, p.41)(SFC, 9/23/98, p.E3)(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W12)(SFEM, 9/26/99, p.12)

1938        Georges de Latour, owner of Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa Valley, Ca., hired French-trained enologist Andre Tchelistcheff to oversee the maturation of his Private Reserve.
    (SFC, 10/10/08, p.F3)

1940        Georges de Latour, owner of Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa Valley, Ca., died. BV Burgundy was renamed by his wife and released as Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, California’s first private reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
    (SFC, 10/10/08, p.F3)

1941        Liebmann Brewery, maker of Rheingold Beer, began promoting the beer with pictures of model Jinx Falkenburg (d.2003 at 84), a Chilean-born actress and tennis player.
    (SFC, 7/4/03, p.A25)(SFC, 8/29/03, p.A28)

1943        In California Cesare Mondavi purchased the Charles Krug winery in Napa Valley and began making wine with his sons Robert and Peter. Robert Mondavi (1913-2008) persuaded his parents to buy Charles Krug Winery. Robert became the salesman and his brother Peter the winemaker.
    (USAT, 6/17/98, p.2D)(SFC, 5/17/08, p.A7)

1944        Armand Hammer was granted a unique license to produce beverage alcohol by the Roosevelt administration due to its short wartime supply.
    (SFC, 1/17/97, p.D7)

1945        Feb 10, "Rum & Coca Cola" by the Andrews Sisters hit #1.
    (MC, 2/10/02)

1947        Jul 4, "Wino Willie" Forkner (d.1997) led his South Central LA Boozefighters motorcyclists to Hollister for a weekend of beer-drenched fun. They were all veterans of WW II. He was said to have been the model for Marlon Brando in the film "The Wild One." 3,000 motorcyclists spilled over into Hollister from a nearby racetrack. [see Jul 7]
    (SFC, 6/26/97, p.A17)(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.A1)

1948        Michigan passed a law that prohibited women from serving alcoholic drinks in bars. In was overturned by a 1971 Supreme Court decision on an Idaho case that showed discrimination against one gender.
    (SFC, 10/12/02, p.A21)

1949         The US Govt. defined generic vodka as a neutral spirit reduced to between 110 and 80 proof and treated so as to be without distinctive character.
    (WSJ, 11/7/95, p.A-1)

1951        In Lebanon Kefraya opened its first vineyard
    (SFC, 1/11/08, p.F4)

1952        Nov 19, The California Wine Institute reported shipments of 11 million gallons for September, a 22.71% increase over Sep, 1951.
    (SFC, 11/15/02, p.E2)

1953        Robert F. Borkenstein (d.2002) invented a Breathalyzer to test drivers for alcohol content. It stemmed from his work with Dr. R.N. Harger of the Indiana School of Medicine to make the Drunkometer.
    (SFC, 8/19/02, p.B6)

1953        On the Isle of Alonissos, Greece, diseased grape vines imported from California wiped out the local wine industry.
    (SSFC, 3/14/04, p.D6)

1954        Feb 27, The Korbel property in Guerneville, California, was acquired by Adolf and Paul Heck of St. Louis, who began producing sparkling wines.
    (SFC, 4/9/96, zz1 p.3)(SFC, 2/27/04, p.E6)

1957        The Italian Swiss Colony winery at Asti, Ca., was deemed a state historical landmark.
    (SSFC, 5/31/09, p.E6)

1959        Hewitt Crane (d.2008 at 81), inventor and bioengineering pioneer, co-founded Ridge Vineyards, resurrecting a 19th century winery in Cupertino, Ca.
    (SFC, 6/26/08, p.B5)

1961        Rodney Strong (d.2006), dancer-turned winemaker, purchased a 160-acre vineyard in Healdsburg, Ca. He started Sonoma Vineyards and later renamed it Rodney Strong Vineyards.
    (SFC, 3/7/06, p.B5)

1962        In France a museum was added to the Chateau Mouton Rothschild. It housed a priceless collection of artwork related to wine.
    (SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T4)

1963        Jan 11, The 1st discotheque opened, Whiskey-a-go-go in LA.
    (MC, 1/11/02)

1964        The "Encyclopedia of Wine" by Frank Schoonmaker was 1st published.
    (WSJ, 6/20/03, p.W8)

1965        David Lett (d.2008 at 69) began Eyrie Vineyards in the Dundee Hills of Oregon with some 3,000 baby vines of the Pinot Noir grape. His 1975 vintage ranked among the top 10 at a prestigious Paris tasting in 1979.
    (SSFC, 10/12/08, p.B6)

1965        Jack Spicer (40), poet, died of alcohol poisoning. The "Collected Book of Jack Spicer" was published nearly 10 years after his death. In 1998 Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian published "Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance. "The House That Jack Built: the Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer was also published in 1998 with an afterward by Peter Gizzi.
    (SFEC, 1/3/99, BR p.3)

1966        Robert Mondavi and his son Michael started the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, the first new winery in California since Prohibition. Mondavi had left the Charles Krug Winery in 1965 following a dispute with relatives.
    (USAT, 6/17/98, p.2D)(SSFC, 4/29/01, p.E7)

1967        Chuck Carpy (1928-1996) founded the Freemark Abbey Winery in Napa Valley. He later founded Rutherford Hill Winery (1976) and the Napa Valley Bank (1982).
    (SFC, 8/21/96, p.A20)

1967        Italy passed a set of labeling laws similar to the French 1935 Appellation d’Origine Controlee (controlled place of origin). The AOC laws were meant to protect growers and properly identify a wine’s origin. They were not intended as an indicator of quality. The Italian DOC laws (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) regulated grape growing zones and wine production practices.
    (SFC, 1/8/96, zz-1 p.4)(SFC, 6/30/99, Z1 p.6)

1968        Al Brounstein (d.2006 at 86) purchased 80 acres on Diamond Mountain in Napa, Ca., for a little over $100,000. He began developing a vineyard and later admitted to smuggling cuttings from Bordeaux, France, by way of Tijuana. His first crop from Diamond Creek Vineyards was produced in 1972.
    (SFC, 6/28/06, p.B7)

1968        Robert Mondavi made a dry wine from Sauvignon Blanc and renamed it Fume Blanc.
    (SFC, 5/17/08, p.A7)

1969        Oct 21, Jack Kerouac (47), Beat Generation chronicler, died of alcoholism in St. Petersburg, Fla. He wrote "On the Road," "Desolation Angels," "Vanity of Duluoz," and "Dharma Bums." Japhy Ryder the Zen hobo-poet in the book was modeled after poet Gary Snyder. In 1979 Dennis McNally authored the biography "Desolate Angel." In 1998 Ellis Amburn published "Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac." In 1999 Barry Miles published "Jack Kerouac, King of the Beats: A Portrait."
    (SFC, 6/7/96, p.A22)(SFC, 9/1/96, DB p.30)(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A17)(SFEC, 8/9/98, BR 9 p.3)(SFEC, 1/17/99, BR p.3)(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.M1)

1969        Family owners sold California’s Beaulieu Vineyards to Heublein Inc.
    (SFC, 10/10/08, p.F3)

1969        Filippo Casella began making wine in Australia after having moved from Italy. Casella Wines introduced their Yellow Tail brand in 2001.
    (SFC, 1/5/06, p.F2)

1969        Germany passed a set of labeling laws similar to the French 1935 Appellation d’Origine Controlee (controlled place of origin). The AOC laws were meant to protect growers and properly identify a wine’s origin. They were not intended as an indicator of quality.
    (SFC, 1/8/97, zz-1 p.4)

1970        Warren Winiarski and investors purchased an orchard next to Nathan Fay’s vineyard in Napa County, Ca., and began planting what would become Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. His 1973 grapes became the Cabernet Sauvignon that won the famous 1976 tasting in Paris.
    (SFC, 1/5/06, p.F5)(SFC, 3/28/08, p.F4)

1971        Jun 1, Reinhold Niebuhr (b.1892), US theologist (Nature & Destiny of Man), died. His Serenity Prayer became widely used by Alcoholics Anonymous: "God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
    (MC, 6/1/02)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.F2)

1971        Alexis Bespaloff authored “The Signet Book of Wine” (paperback).
    (WSJ, 5/28/04, p.W7)

1972        Jan 23, A bootlegger sold wood alcohol to a wedding party in New Delhi and 100 people died.
    (MC, 1/23/02)

1972        Feb 21, Pres. Nixon began his visit to China as he and his wife arrived in Shanghai. He was the 1st US president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the US. He brought along a bottle of Schramsberg sparkling wine from California.
    (HN, 2/21/01)(AP, 2/21/04)(WSJ, 7/1/05, p.W6)

1972        Frank J. Prial began his “Wine Talk” column for the NY Times. His regular articles ended in 2005.
    (WSJ, 7/1/05, p.W6)

1972        California released its 1st Merlot labeled wine.
    (WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W4)

1972        Kermit Lynch opened Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, Ca. He focused on importing small-production French wines. In 2005 the French government announced that he would be awarded the insignia of Chevalier de la Legion d’Honeur.
    (SFC, 12/22/05, p.F5)

1973        Fall, Cesar Chavez called an end to the UFW grape strike. A nationwide boycott of California’s non-union grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines was stepped up.
    (SFEM, 4/13/97, p.8)

1973        Bib Trinchero of Sutter Home Winery in St. Helena released the 1st White Zinfandel as "Oeil de Perdrix" (Eye of the Partridge).
    (SFC, 7/3/03, p.D2)

1973        Peter Newton (1926-2008), founder of the Sterling Int’l. paper company, opened up the new Sterling winery on a hilltop overlooking Napa Valley. Visitors required a tram ride to reach it. In 1979 he sold Sterling to Coca-Cola and began developing Newton Vineyard.
    (SFC, 2/9/08, p.B3)

1973        French wines were re-ranked according to taste, rather than price, and Mouton Rothschild was elevated to the first rank.
    (SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T4)
1973        Bordeaux wine producer Mouton was elevated to "first growth" status.
    (WSJ, 4/23/04, p.W5)

1973        Montana Wines introduced grapevines to the Marlborough region of New Zealand pushing out the garlic that had been the area’s hallmark crop.
    (SFC, 4/11/08, p.F4)

1974        Dr. Charles Lieber at the VA Medical Center in the Bronx, NY, fed alcohol to baboons along with a nutritionally complete diet. He found that the animals developed every stage of human alcoholic liver disease.
    (SSFC, 8/23/09, p.K6)

1975        Jun 5, Gov. Jerry Brown of California announced the new Agricultural Labor Relations Act. It was a temporary truce in the struggle between the state’s  farm workers (UFW) led by Cesar Chavez and farmers. Chavez officially ended the table grape, lettuce and wine boycott on Jan 31, 1978.
    (SFEM, 4/13/97, p.22)(SFC, 1/31/03, p.E4)

1975        In France Ricard merged with Pernod, another French maker of the pastis aperitif.
    (Econ, 11/12/05, p.66)

1975        It was a good year for Burgundy wines made from the Pinot Noir grapes of Oregon. In 1979 David Lett’s vintage from this year ranked among the top 10 at a prestigious Paris tasting. Lett (d.2008 at 69) had introduced Pinot Noir to Oregon in 1965.
    (SFC, 8/28/96, zz-1 p.4)(SSFC, 10/12/08, p.B6)

1976        May 24, In France 2 California wines won a tasting event over several French classics for the 1st time. Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and wine school in Paris, held a competition tasting of French and American wines. The best white wine was a 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena. The best red wine was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Winemaker Miljenko Grgich created the Napa Chardonnay that beat French wines in the legendary Paris Tasting. In 2005 George M. Taber authored “Judgement of Paris,” an account of the 1976 tasting.
    (SFC, 5/29/96, ZZ1 p.4)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.T8)(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.F4)

1976        Sep 4, George W. Bush (30), candidate for US president in 2000, was arrested and pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in Kennebunkport, Maine.
    (SFC, 11/3/00, p.A1)

1978        Francis Ford Coppola purchased the Niebaum winery and estate in Rutherford from the van Loben Selses.
    (SFC, 6/18/03, p.A23)

1978        Joseph Phelps in California made a new red wine blend called Meritage from a blend of traditional Bordeaux grapes.
    (SFC, 10/2/96, zz1 p.4)(http://tinyurl.com/2q56ok)

1980        Jan 23, A rolling earthquake hit northern California and measured 5.5 in Contra Costa. It destroyed 25,000 gallons of wine at the Livermore winery of Wente Brothers.
    (SFC, 1/21/05, p.F2)

1980        Aug 14, It was reported that France’s Moet-Hennessy is buying Schieffelin & Co., its New York based US distributor. The deal also included the Simi Winery in Healdsburg, Ca.
    (SFC, 8/12/05, p.F3)

1980        Oct 15, An FTC judge upheld Heublein’s acquisition of SF-based United Vintners, the 2nd largest wine company in the US.
    (SFC, 10/14/05, p.F2)

1981        Scharffenberger Cellars in Mendocino, Ca., was founded by John Scharffenberger. He sold the winery to Veuve Cliquot of France in 1996 and went into the chocolate business.
    (SFEM,10/26/97, p.21)

1982        In northern California Jess Jackson (b.1930), real estate lawyer and grape grower, decided to make his own wine and soon produced a batch of blended chardonney grapes called Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay. The wine got an award and sold out in six weeks.
    (AP, 7/4/09)(www.wineanorak.com/california/kendalljackson.htm)

1983        Nov 9, Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, was kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.
    (HN, 11/9/98)

1983        Nov 30, Police freed kidnapped beer magnate Alfred Heineken in Amsterdam.
    (MC, 11/30/01)

1983        A couple of Canadian vineyards began producing ice wine, a 1794 German invention (eiswein), using frost-bitten grapes to produce a desert wine.
    (Econ, 5/22/04, p.32)(http://wine.about.com)

1984        Maynard Amerine (d.1998 at 74) published the "Univ. of California / Sotheby Book of California Wine." It was co-edited with Bob Thompson and Doris Muscatine. Mr. Amerine also wrote "Table Wines: The Technology of their Production," with M.A. Joslyn.
    (SFC, 3/13/98, p.D2)

1984        The Walla Walla Valley wine appellation in Washington state was established.
    (Econ, 5/20/06, p.37)

1984        The Japanese firm Suntory purchased the Chateau St. Jean winery in Sonoma, Calif. They sold it in 1996.
    (WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A4)

1985        Dec 5, Christie’s auctioned a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux, thought to have once been part of Thomas Jefferson’s cellar, and part of a cache said to have been recently unearthed from a Paris house by German pop band manager Hardy Rodenstock. Lot 337 sold for $156,000 on a bid by Kip Murdoch, bidding for his father Malcolm Forbes. In 2006 Bill Koch of Florida, who purchased 4 bottles of alleged Jefferson wine in 1987, sued Rodenstock for fraud. In 2008 Benjamin Wallace authored “The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.
    (Econ, 5/10/08, p.95)

1985        The Huadong Winery opened northeast of Qingdao on Mount Leoshan under British interests.
    (SFEC, 2/6/00, p.T13)

1985        Cloudy Bay, a New Zealand wine maker, began exporting Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to the US.
    (SFC, 4/11/08, p.F1)

1986        Jul, US Federal rules took effect that barred wines from using geographic names unless the grapes come from that region. Winemakers were allowed to continue to use brands approved prior to this date.
    (SFC, 1/24/06, p.E1)

1986        Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and wine school in Paris, held another competition tasting of French and American wines following his 1976 event in New York City. This time only red wines were tasted and the same reds were used except for the Freemark Abbey wine. The American wines placed first and second: Clos du Val (1972) came in first and Ridge Vineyards (1971) came in second.
    (SFC, 5/29/96, ZZ1 p.4)

1987        Jul 8, Kitty Dukakis, wife of Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis, revealed she'd been addicted to amphetamines for 26 years but had sought help and was drug-free. She later admitted to dependence on alcohol, and entered a recovery program.
    (AP 7/8/97)

1987        William Koch of Germany paid some $500,000 for 4 bottles of French wine said to have been discovered in Paris in 1985 and allegedly once owned by Thomas Jefferson. By 2006 Koch’s investigations led him to believe they were fakes, which he attributed to Hardy Rodenstock (born as Meinhard Goerke), a German collector and dealer.
    (WSJ, 9/1/06, p.A1)

1988        Jan 20, Philippe de Rothschild (b.1902), Bordeaux Vineyard manager, died in Paris.
    (www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Philippe_de_Rothschild)

1988        The Sonoma Creek Winery was founded near Sonoma, California.
    (SFC, 4/9/96, z1 p.7)

1989        Feb 26, Defense Secretary-designate John Tower, dogged by questions about a possible drinking problem, publicly pledged not to drink any alcohol during his term of office if confirmed by the Senate.
    (AP, 2/26/99)

1989        Mar 30, "The Heidi Chronicles" by Wendy Wasserstein won the Pulitzer Prize for drama; in the journalism category, the Anchorage Daily News won the public service award for its reports on alcoholism and suicide among native Alaskans.
    (AP, 3/30/99)

1989        Apr 14, Former winery worker Ramon Salcido killed 6 relatives, including his wife and daughters, and a co-worker in Sonoma County. He was tried and convicted in Oct. 1990 by Judge Littrell (d.1997) and sentenced to death. In 1997 Salcedo was still on death row with his case in the appeal process.
    (SFC, 1/31/97, p.E2)(AP, 4/14/99)

1989        Apr 20, Ramon Salcido, a California winery worker later convicted of killing six relatives and a co-worker, was deported from Mexico to the U.S.
    (AP, 4/20/99)

1989        Nov 6, Kitty Dukakis, wife of Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, was hospitalized after ingesting rubbing alcohol.
    (AP, 11/6/99)

1989        Michael Dorris (d.1997 at 52), a Modoc Indian descendent, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his work: "The Broken Cord." It described the problem of fetal alcohol syndrome.
    (SFC, 4/15/97, p.A2)

1989        In California the Hess Collection in Napa opened as a combination winery and modern art museum. Donald Hess, a Swiss water wizard, had acquired the former Theodore Gier Winery in the 1970s.
    (SFEC, 2/22/98, p.T5)

1989        Tom Klein acquired Rodney Strong Vineyards from Guinness Corp. Klein retained Rodney Strong as a brand representative.
    (SFC, 3/7/06, p.B5)

1989        Pernod Ricard SA acquired the Australian wine brand Jacob’s Creek.
    (WSJ, 9/7/05, p.B2)

1990        John O’Brien (d.1994) published his novel "Leaving Las Vegas." It was made into a 1995 film and was the semi-autobiographical account about an alcoholic who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death.
    (SFC, 8/20/98, p.B4)

1990        Volcano Winery was founded on Hawaii’s Big Island, adjacent to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
    (SSFC, 8/28/05, p.E4)

1990        GHB, gamma hydroxy butyrate, began to be reported as a cause of illnesses. The paint thinner gamma butyl lactone was being mixed with water and alcohol that when ingested metabolized to GHB, later called "liquid ecstasy" or "blue nitro."
    (SFC, 1/14/99, p.A16)

1990        The Australian firm Thomas Hardy & Sons, a family firm that had made wine for 160 years, entered the market in Europe with an investment in Domaine de la Baume in Languedoc, France.
    (WSJ, 5/30/03, p.A3)

1991        Mar 21, Test results released in Los Angeles showed that Rodney King, the motorist whose beating by police was videotaped by a bystander, had marijuana and alcohol in his system following his arrest. President Bush denounced King’s beating as "sickening" and "outrageous."
    (AP, 3/21/01)

1992        The Fetzer family sold the Fetzer Vineyards brand and its Hopland wine-making facility to Brown-Forman for a reported $80 million. As part of the deal 11 Fetzer siblings were prohibited from making any kind of beverage for sale for 8 years. Sidney Goldstein (d.2008 at 61), author of “The Wine Lover’s Cookbook” (1999), served for many years as the food and wine concepts director at Fetzer Vineyards.
    (SFC, 1/1/04, p.D3)(SFC, 12/9/04, p.F3)(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.B7)

1992        The Australian wine firm Thomas Hardy & Sons merged with a rival to create BRL Hardy.
    (WSJ, 5/30/03, p.A3)

1992        In Finland the Wife Carrying contest was initiated to revive a 200 year old tradition from when Ronkainen the Robber tested aspiring members of his gang by making them carry huge sacks on their backs through an obstacle course. Cash prizes and the wife’s weight in beer was awarded to the winners.
    (SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A2)

1993        May 2, Julio Gallo (b.1910), wine maker (Gallo), died in a car accident.
    (www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9311360)

1993        In Germany the Reinheitsgebot law of 1516 was relaxed to allow foreign brewers to sell their beer in Germany.
    (WSJ, 5/27/98, p.A1)

1993        The Mondavi Wine Co. went public.
    (SFC, 7/21/96, p.D4)

1993        In Tanzania in a privatization drive part of the government stake in Safari beer was sold to a South African company.
    (WSJ, 12/10/96, p.A1)

1994        Apr 5, Andre Victor Tchelistcheff (b.1901), Russian-born winemaker, died in California. He developed frost-prevention techniques and helped curb vine disease in Napa Valley. Beside managing Beaulieu Vineyards in Napa for 35 years, Tchelistcheff operated a private wine laboratory in St. Helena for 15 years. He also assembled a fabled library of wine literature.
    (http://tinyurl.com/8kqmd)

1994        Nov 10, In Russia Colonel Mikhail Likhodey chairman of the Afghan War Invalids Fund was killed by a bomb blast outside his apartment. The Fund had been granted lucrative tax exemptions on the import and export of alcohol and tobacco with an estimated value of $800 million.
    (SFC, 11/11/96, p.A13)(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A11)

1994        Mealybugs were first discovered in California vineyards and by 2007 30-40 thousand acres were infested. In 2007 experiments were begun were begun with dogs trained to sniff out female mealybugs in heat.
    (WSJ, 6/14/07, p.A1)

1995        May, In Chile the Ministry of Agriculture imposed a System of Appellation for the wine industry. New labels would correctly indicate a wine’s region of origin.
    (SFC, 1/8/96, zz-1 p.4)

1995        Oz Clarke, British wine writer, published his 1st "Wine Atlas."
    (SFC, 1/2/03, p.D5)

1997        Mar 19, It was reported that purple grape juice slows the activity of blood platelets by about 75% and thus reduces the risk of heart attacks. Red wine and aspirin slowed platelet activity by about 45%.
    (SFC, 3/19/97, p.A10)

1997        Apr 24, Pat Paulsen (69), comedian, died in Mexico. In 1968 on the Smothers Brothers TV show he announced that he was running for president and actually got his name on the ballot in 1972. He built the Pat Paulsen Winery in Asti, Ca., and proclaimed himself mayor in 1986.
    (SFC, 4/26/97, p.A22)(AP, 4/24/98)

1997        Matraca Berg wrote her song "Strawberry Wine," which became a major hit sung by Deana Carter.
    (WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A20)

1997        Darioush Khaledi, a successful immigrant grocer, started his Darioush Winery in Napa, Ca. In 2004 a new visitor’s center was opened to evoke the spirit of his native Iran’s ancient capital of Persepolis.
    (SFC, 3/21/08, p.F3)

1997        Dr. Julio and Amalia Palmaz purchased the Cedar Knoll winery in Napa, Ca. They then proceeded to build an 100,000 square-foot underground wine operation, despite neighbors protests, estimated to cost $20 million. Dr. Palmaz was internationally know for inventing the balloon-expandable coronary stent. In 2008 Palmaz Vineyards produced some 6,000 cases of Cabernet and 1,000 cases of white wines costing from $32 to $150 a bottle.
    (SFC, 1/2/09, p.W8)

1998        Feb 27, Jack Micheline (born as Harvey Martin Silver in NY), Bohemian poet, died at 68 of a heart attack on a BART train between SF and Orinda. His first book of poetry was "River of Red Wine," and his last was "Sixty Seven Poems for Downtrodden Saints."
    (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.D8)

1998        Apr 9, In Colombia a Catholic priest and a lay worker died from a toxic cocktail of wine mixed with cyanide. At least 10 Easter baskets with poisoned wine were delivered to priests in the provinces of Meta and Cundinamarca.
    (SFC, 4/13/98, p.A14)

1998        Charles L. Sullivan authored “A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present.”
    (www.amazon.com/Companion-California-Wine-Encyclopedia-Winemaking/dp/0520213513)

1998        Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher began their Wall Street Journal column on wine. Their first article was about American Merlot.
    (WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W4)(WSJ, 3/21/08, p.W3)

1998        Carole Meredith, UC Davis plant geneticist, identified the Durif grape as a cross between the French grape Peloursin and Syrah. The Durif grape was named by Francois Durif, botanist and grape breeder, around 1880 as the result of an unintended crossing between two varieties. California vines labeled Petite Sirah had already been identified as Durif.
    (SFC, 1/20/05, p.F5)

1999        Sep 2, Genetic experts reported that Chardonnay and 15 other varietal wines have resulted from a coupling between Pinot and Gouais blanc grapes.
    (SFC, 9/3/99, p.A1)

1999        In South Africa a wine buyer suggested the vinification of a Rhone-style blend called Goats do Roam owned by Charles Back.
    (SFC, 10/31/08, p.F2)

1999        Thailand’s Siam Winery launched its first label, Chatemp. In 2003 the "Monsoon Valley" range was introduced abroad by Chalerm Yoovidhya, whose father Chaleo gave the world the "Red Bull" energy drink.
    (AFP, 1/24/07)

1999        In Turkey Guler Sabanci launched her wine label “G.”
    (Econ, 1/29/05, p.64)

2000        Aug 28, Foster’s Brewing of Australia reported a deal to buy the California Beringer winery for some $1.5 billion.
    (SFC, 8/29/00, p.A1)

2001        Dec 20, It was reported that researchers had identified red wine pigments (polyphenols) as a factor in inhibiting the production of a peptide that stimulates hardening of the arteries.
    (WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A1)

2001        Stuart Fleming, Univ. of Pennsylvania physicist, authored and self-published “Vinum: The Story of Roman Wine.”
    (AM, 11/04, p.35)

2001        Robert Mondavi backed the opening of Copia, the $50 million American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa, Ca.
    (USAT, 6/17/98, p.2D)(SSFC, 8/6/06, p.G8)

2001        A grape genetically identical to California’s zinfandel was discovered growing wild in Croatia.
    (SFC, 9/7/05, p.F8)

2002        Jan 4, Antonio Todde, an Italian shepherd listed by Guinness as the world’s oldest man, died just shy of his 113th birthday. "Just love your brother and drink a good glass of red wine every day."
    (SFC, 1/5/02, p.A22)

2002        Nov 9, A dry winter and a wet summer ravaged Italy's grapevines, causing the worst harvest in half a century.  Some regions were spared the disasters, like the area in Tuscany where Chianti is produced and parts of southern Italy.
    (AP, 11/9/02)

2002        Dec, Roberto Massari, Italian publisher, dedicated a new wine, Rosso Gayardo, to Karl Heinrich (1825-1895), considered to be the 1st gay activist.
    (SFC, 1/30/03, p.D6)

2002        Dec, Diageo PLC launched Ciroc, the 1st grape-based vodka.
    (WSJ, 10/20/04, p.B1)

2002        The USDA approved definitions and standards regarding organic wines for domestic winemakers and imported wine, effective with the 2003 vintage.
    (WSJ, 5/12/06, p.W6)

2003        Jan 17, Constellation Brands of Fairport NY announced a $1.4 billion acquisition of Australia’s BRL Hardy. The combination would form the world’s largest wine company.
    (SFC, 1/18/03, p.A1)

2003        Alan Deutschman authored "A Tale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma."
    (SSFC, 4/13/03, p.M1)

2003        Patrick E. McGovern authored "Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viticulture."
    (AM, 3/04, p.56)

2003        In Italy regional legislation recognized the prosecco district, a region just north of Venice, for sparkling wine produced with prosecco grapes.
    (Econ, 12/22/07, p.108)

2004        Apr 16, After analyzing 730 confirmed cases of gout from among a group of 47,000 men over 12 years, London researchers demonstrated that drinkers are more likely to get gout, and that beer is worse and wine is best. Gout is caused by deposits of crystals of a chemical called uric acid in joints. Alcohol consumption leads to "hyperuricaemia" -- when the body produces too much uric acid.
    (Reuters, 4/16/04)

2004        Oct 19, Constellation Brands announced that it had made an unsolicited $970 million takeover offer for Robert Mondavi Corp.
    (WSJ, 10/20/04, p.A6)

2004        VinoVenue opened at 686 Mission St. in SF. It featured automated machines and smart cards for wine tasting.
    (SFC, 11/11/04, p.F1)

2004        Christy Campbell authored “The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved for the World.”
    (Econ, 5/8/04, p.80)(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.E3)
2004        William Echikson authored “Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution.”
    (Econ, 5/8/04, p.80)(WSJ, 6/4/04, p.W4)
2004        Lawrence Osborne authored "The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World."
    (SSFC, 4/4/04, p.M4)

2005        May 16, The US Supreme Court in Swedenburg v. Kelly ruled 5-4 that wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards if those states allow direct shipments from in-state wineries. Vintner Juanita Swedenburg (1925-2007) had filed her suit against a New York state law in 2000.
    (AP, 5/16/05)(SFC, 5/17/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.A6)

2005        Oct 12, A fire at the Wines Central warehouse in Vallejo, Ca., destroyed tens of million of dollars worth of vintage wine. An estimated 6 million bottles were in storage there. On Oct 18 investigators said the fire was deliberately set. In 2007 Mark Anderson (58), a Sausalito businessman, was charged with setting the fire.
    (SFC, 10/13/05, p.A1)(SFC, 10/19/05, p.B1)(SFC, 3/20/07, p.A1)

2005        Nov 17, France released its annual Beaujolais Nouveau from the 2005 harvest. The annual release is made every 3rd Thursday in November.
    (SFC, 11/22/05, p.F2)

2005        Elin McCoy authored “The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste.”
    (SFC, 7/7/05, p.F4)

2006        Mar 5, Rodney Strong (78), dancer-turned winemaker, died in Healdsburg, Ca.
    (SFC, 3/7/06, p.B5)

2006        Sep 20, Henri Jayer (84), a master of balanced pinot noir, died in Dijon, France. He was viewed by many connoisseurs to be the finest Burgundy winemaker of his generation.
    (AP, 9/21/06)

2006        James Gabler authored “An Evening with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson: Dinner, Wine and Conversation.”
    (WSJ, 9/1/06, p.A9)

2007        Mar 6, Ernest Gallo (97), who parlayed $5,900 and a wine recipe from a public library into the world's largest winemaking empire, died at his home in Modesto, Ca.
    (AP, 3/7/07)

2007        Jul 31, A new study reported that drinking wine or beer every day increases the risk of bowel cancer. The British Daily Telegraph reported 35,000 people are diagnosed each year with bowel cancer and that  it kills 16,100 a year.
    (AP, 7/31/07)

2007        Jul, Warren Winiarski sold his Stag’s Leap winery in Napa County to Italian winemaker Piero Antinori and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates of Washington state for $185 million.
    (SFC, 3/28/08, p.F6)

2007        Nov 10, Patrick Healy (b.1946), manager of Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, Ca., died. Healy had initiated the company’s recycling program and cut waste from operations by 95%.
    (SFC, 11/24/07, p.A8)

2007        Nov 12, Constellation Brands said it will pay $885 million for the US wine business of Fortune Brands, which includes the Geyser Peak, Wild Horse, Buena Vista Carneros and Gary Farrell labels. The deal also included 1,500 acres of vineyards in Sonoma and Napa counties.
    (SFC, 11/13/07, p.B1)

2007        Dec 18, An Italian team published the first full genetic sequence of a grape variety, pinot noir, in the Public Library of Science.
    (Econ, 12/22/07, p.137)

2007        Julia Flynn Siler authored “The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty.”
    (WSJ, 6/15/07, p.W1)

2007        The wine boom in Australia went bust forcing many farmers to walk away from grapes and land they could not sell. Falling grape prices due to over production and cuts to irrigation water due to drought created a double whammy.
    (Econ, 3/29/08, p.84)
2007        New Zealand had a bumper year in wine, which overtook wool exports in value for the first time becoming the country’s 12th most valuable export.
    (Econ, 3/29/08, p.85)

2008        Jan 17, A US federal judge struck down Texas laws barring out-of-state retailers from shipping wine to consumers.
    (WSJ, 1/18/08, p.A1)

2008        Apr 4, An executive for a prominent Tuscan wine producer said authorities confiscated some 600,000 bottles of his company's 2003 Brunello di Montalcino, alleging too many bottles were produced for it to be entirely authentic.
    (AP, 4/4/08)

2008        May 16, Robert Mondavi (b.1913), the pioneering vintner who helped put California wine country on the map, died at his Napa Valley home. He was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966, when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry.
    (AP, 5/16/08)(SFC, 5/17/08, p.A1)

2008        Jul 23, It was reported that Napa Valley’s Chateau Montelena, winner of a 1976 wine tasting event in France, was being purchased by Cos d’Estournel of Bordeaux, France.
    (SFC, 7/23/08, p.C1)

2008        Oct 28, Ricardo Claro (b.1934), Chilean industrialist, died. His industrial empire stretched from shipping (CSAV) to media to wine (Santa Rita). In 1974 he announced to the world, on behalf of the Pinochet government, that Chile was once again open for business.
    (WSJ, 11/8/08, p.A6)

2008        Nov 20, The 2008 edition of Beaujolais Nouveau wine arrived, and vintners hoped it will lift spirits despite the financial crisis and a dismal crop.
    (AP, 11/20/08)

2008        Dec 10, In Italy a bumper harvest was expected to push wine production above that of neighboring France for the first time in a decade, making Italy the world's largest wine producer.
    (AP, 12/10/08)

2008        Dec 22, In California it was announced that the Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery has been sold to the Foley Wine Group of Los Olivos, Ca.
    (SFC, 12/23/08, p.A1)

2008        Dec 31, In Brazil Christian Wolffer (70), owner of the Wolffer Estate winery, bled to death after suffering two deep cuts on his back while swimming on New Year's Eve near the colonial town of Paraty, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) west of Rio de Janeiro. A man suspected of piloting a motorboat that struck and killed Wolffer was detained on Jan 4.
    (AP, 1/4/09)

2008        Alice Feiring authored “The Battle for Wine and Love: Or How I Saved the World From Parkerization.”
    (SFC, 5/23/08, p.E6)

2009        Mar 25,  The EU laid out new labeling rules laid allowing Rose wine customers to know exactly how their grapes were treated to turn their tipple a blushing pink.
    (AP, 3/25/09)

2009        Jul 30, Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif., said that visits to the company's Web site have increased tenfold since news of an Alabama ban on his Cycles Gladiator wine broke late last week. Callers from across the country have been asking where they can buy the wine. It was reported that the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of a label that features a nude nymph. The wine's label is copied from an 1895 French advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. It shows a side view of a full-bodied nymph flying alongside a winged bicycle.
    (AP, 7/31/09)

2009        Richard Mendelson authored “From Demon to Darling: A Legal History of Wine in America.”
    (SSFC, 7/5/09, p.F1)

Go to www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = wine
End of file