December 31

December 31, 192: Roman Emperor Commodus, who had seized the wine-producing Villa of the Quintilii, was assassinated in Rome.

December 31, 1825: Thomas Bramwell Welch, the physician and dentist who developed pasteurized unfermented ‘wine’ (grape juice) as a non-alcoholic communion alternative, was born in Glastonbury, England.

December 31, 1941: Sir Alex Ferguson was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Considered one of the greatest football managers in history, he was in charge of Manchester United for almost 30 years. Ferguson had a habit of sharing a glass with the opposing team’s manager and maintained a large and rare wine collection that he is beginning to sell now that he’s retired (but don’t worry – it’s so he can travel and experience new wines).

December 31, 2001: The regional wine committees were founded in Austria. These committees were made up of well-known members of each region’s wine-growing community. They worked closely with the Austrian Wine Marketing Board to establish idiomatic and regionally typical wine styles to improve the marketing and positioning of the area. Their main objective was to improve sales coordination (for instance, through standardization of contracts in contract management and qualification measures). The national wine committee was responsible for supervising and coordinating the work of the regional wine committees.

December 31, 2006: HuanRen Ice Wine gained its geographical indications (GI) protection products in 2006.

December 31, 2022: In addition to being the last day of the Gregorian Calendar year, this is also National Champagne Day in the United States.

For more dates in wine history, click here.

 

 

Hero image: Szeder László / CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.