January 3

January 3, 1862: On this day in 1862 Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who would later serve as the seventh president of Argentina between 1868 and 1874, entered office as governor of San Juan province in north-western Argentina. This region is the heart of the Argentine wine industry. Just months earlier as governor-elect Sarmiento had invited some French agronomists to the region to oversee the improvement of the burgeoning viticulture industry here. It was these Frenchmen who introduced the Malbec varietal to the San Juan region, which went on to play a huge role in the modern Argentinian wine industry. The main French agricultural engineer involved was Michel Aimé Pouget, who as well as introducing Malbec, also brought over cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. Thus, Sarmiento and the French agronomists he brought over to Argentina in the 1860s played a crucial role in developing the Argentine wine industry during a formative period in its development. For more information, see Domingo Faustino Sarmiento edited by Victoria Galvani (Madrid, 1990), pp. 23–24.

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January 3, 1868: The Meiji Restoration began with a coup in Kyoto proclaiming imperial rule and ending the Tokugawa shogunate, opening Japan to Western influence.

January 3, 2017: devastating wildfires began raging across South Africa’s Western Cape wine region, destroying vineyards and buildings. The first flames broke out on Jan. 3, affecting vineyards such as Vergelegen, Morgenster, and Lourensford; another fire in Paarl’s Dal Josafat district caused enormous damage to wineries. High winds of up to 60 miles per hour, along with unusually dry circumstances, have impeded firefighters’ efforts to put out the fires, with new outbreaks being reported on the Cape Peninsula, near the Constantia wine area. For more dates in wine history, click here .

Header image: Bill McChesney from Charlottesville, VA — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Header image: David — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).