March 16

March 16, 1837: Ludwig Hermann Goethe was born. Hermann Goethe (1837–1911), a pomologist and expert in German viticulture, studied at the Hohenheim Agricultural Academy. He served as a chief gardener at the Reutlingen Pomological Institute (fruit growing) from 1860 to 1862, as director of the Obergoblitz Agricultural Horticultural School in Dresden from 1865 to 1869, and as director of the Pomological Gardens in Geisenheim from 1869. He established the fruit and wine-producing school in Marburg (modern-day Maribor, Slovenia) in 1872 while working as a traveling instructor and turned it into a pioneering model institution. He chose the renowned rootstock vine Goethe Rupestris No. 9, which bears his name. In 1890, Ludwig Hermann Goethe took over as the head of the Agricultural Association for Protection of Austrian Viticulture and produced a thorough history of viticulture in Austrian latitudes, documenting the most significant grape types and origins at the time.

March 16, 1987: The EU passed Council Regulation (EEC) No 823/87. The regulation deals with the quality enforcement of wines based on specific regions. It was repealed in 2000.

March 16, 2015: Robert Dahl, a winery owner, chased an investor named Emad Tawfilis through a vineyard in Northern California before shooting him in the head at close range as the police closed in. He then led them on a brief pursuit that concluded with his apparent suicide. According to the Napa County Sheriff’s Department, the investor, Emad Tawfilis, contacted 911 in a panic shortly before noon on that specific day, claiming to be fleeing through grapevines from a business partner who was firing at him from behind the wheel of an SUV. Robert Dahl, the owner of Dahl Vineyards, shot the evading investor as law enforcement arrived on the scene, causing him to fall to the ground, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Douglas Pike. Maybe it all started with the red Adidas gym bag that contained $800,000 in cash.

March 16, 2020: Harima gained its Geographical Indication (GI) status from the Japanese National Tax Agency on this day. Yamada-Nishiki is the kind of rice used as a primary component in the production of Japanese sake, and Harima is the leading producer of this variety of rice.

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Header image: Johann Jaritz — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).