September 3

September 3, 1758: King Joseph I of Portugal barely survived an assassination attempt outside Lisbon when three men intercepted his unmarked carriage outside the Portuguese capital. In the weeks that followed the Marchioness Leonor of Távora and her family were identified as the primary suspects and in January 1759 she and several other members of the Távora family were executed outside Lisbon. The Távoras had extensive links with the Societ of Jesus or Jesuits, a major religious order in Europe and overseas, and the Távora Affair, as it became known, was used in 1759 as the basis for a crown order to expulse the Jesuits from all Portuguese territory. This had an unexpected bearing on the Brazilian wine industry which since the early seventeenth century had been centered on the Jesuit religious missions in the south of the country. With the expulsion of the Jesuits in the years that followed Brazil’s domestic wine industry effectively disappeared and was not rejuvenated until the late nineteenth century.

September 3, 1852: Moreau-Robert’s French private cultivator cultivated Muscat Ottonel.

September 3, 1926: Dr. Raymond Pearl discovered that those who consume alcohol in moderation had a better chance of outliving both nondrinkers and heavy drinkers. His results were presented in the book he authored, “Alcohol and Longevity.”

September 3, 1981: Twelve residents of Hong Kong signed the constitutional documents founding the Hong Kong Wine Society.

September 3, 2013: The Hatten wine company of Indonesia is responsible for establishing AGA White wine. A fresh and lively white blend with a body that ranges from mild to medium. Traits of citrus fruits and flowery herbs distinctive from the tropical vineyard terroir found in the northern half of Bali.

Hero image: Funke / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.