Wine critics have always existed. Their influence has waxed and waned in history, but wine criticism has always been there right alongside winemaking and wine marketing.
To defend Port's honesty, the Marquis of Pombal drew the world's first demarcated wine region — and ordered the Douro's elderberry trees uprooted to stop the faking of Port's color.
The legend says a clumsy waiter destroyed a half-million-dollar bottle once owned by Thomas Jefferson. The truth is stranger — and the bottle may have been a fake.
California wine country, where the 1976 winners were grown. Photo: John Morgan / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons ✓ VERIFIEDBy the This Day in Wine History Editorial Team — researched, fact-checked & verified […]
‘The Forefather of Modern Oenology’: Émile Peynaud The science of winemaking, viticulture, and oenology has been transformed over the past two centuries. As recently as the eighteenth century most winemakers, even in France, used […]
How to Taste Wine Like A Pro To taste wine like a pro, you need to be knowledgeable and careful when tasting. To describe and treat it as a quick and superficial pleasure would […]
Steven Spurrier's Impact on the Wine Industry The name "Steven Spurrier" will forever be remembered as the person who propelled California wines into the limelight. Thanks to his innovativeness and willingness to explore, Spurrier […]
Super wine tasters: Who has the best sense of smell of wine in the world? According to archaeological findings, wine was first produced in 5000BC, and since then, different regions around the world have […]
Does Expensive Wine Taste Better or Is It Just an Illusion? In the 1996 French movie Ridicule, a wine expert produces an elaborate and humorous tasting to prove context is influential. For example, the […]
By the This Day in Wine History Editorial Team · ✓ Researched, fact-checked & verified · July 2026 · 9 min read France’s two greatest wine regions rank their wines in opposite ways. Bordeaux […]
Karl Marx's Views on Wine Karl Heinrich Marx (also known as Karl Max) lived from May 5, 1818, to March 14, 1883. He was a reformer, sociologist, historian, and economist. Along with Friedrich Engels, […]
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