The Month of June

June 276: In this month, Marcus Aurelius Probus became Roman Emperor. Marcus Aurelius Probus used his army to cultivate new vineyards in the Pannonian region and overturned Emperor Domitian’s earlier restriction on winemaking north of the Alps during his reign. In his six-year administration, Probus, an active and effective general as well as a responsible administrator, ensured the prosperity of the interior provinces while fending off recurrent barbarian tribe incursions on nearly the whole boundary. Probus had to deal with multiple internal uprisings after driving back the empire’s foreign adversaries, but whenever feasible, he showed tolerance and moderation toward the defeated. The Roman Senate’s constitutional power was meticulously upheld during his rule, and the emperor who had led his army to triumph over the Rhine admitted that he was dependent on the Senate’s approval.

June 1282: On this month, Arte dei Vinattieri was founded in Florence. The Tuscan wine trade was regulated and overseen by the Arte dei Vinattieri in both the city and the countryside.

June 1956: The earliest chemical trace of wine at the time was discovered: tartaric acid and resin in Hajji Firuz Tepe/Godin Tepe, Iran. Tartaric acid, found in grapes, and resin, found in evergreen trees, were present in these jars from 5400 BC.

June 1956: The launch of bag-in-box wines became common in the wine sector. During this time, William Scholle was the one who came up with the concept of putting wine in a bag-in-box and went on to patent it.

June 1999: During this month, the first chemical trace of any fermented beverage was discovered within clay jars at Jiahu, in the Yellow River valley in China. Rice, honey, and fruit were the three components that went into making the 9,000-year-old combination.

June 2004: The World of Fine Wine was first published. The World of Fine Wine (abbreviated WFW) is a quarterly British journal aimed at a rich readership of wine collectors and aficionados.

June 2010: In this month, at the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards in London, Oak Valley’s Pinot Noir 2008 took home a Gold Medal and the Regional Trophy in the over £10 category. The Oak Valley Pinot Noir 2008 earned the right to participate in the International Trophy, which was revealed in September 2010, with two other Pinot Noirs from the United States and New Zealand thanks to its strong performances at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The 2008 vintage has already been recognized with a 2009 Winemakers’ Choice Award and a 2009 Mondial du Pinot Noir Gold Medal.

June 2012: In this month, Penfolds, one of the most famous wineries in Australia, sold a bottle of Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon (Red Wine) at $168,000.

June 2013: During this period, a gang got away with €1m fine wine. Earlier in 2014, 20 “highly organized and professional” gang members who had stolen €1 million worth of Bordeaux wine were apprehended by French gendarmes during a dawn raid. Bordeaux vineyards reported a theft every 15 days for six months. The robbers would use a stolen van that they would burn after cleaning it with bleach to get their fingerprints off since they were determined to leave no trace.

June 2018: In this month, in New York, 15 wineries were sued for discriminating against the blind. The complaints allege that the wineries’ websites are insufficiently accessible for persons with a visual disability, all of which stem from a single plaintiff in Brooklyn. ADA-related website cases have been filed against dozens of other wineries around the United States since then. This raised the question of what it takes to make a website ADA-compliant, improve accessibility, and avoid potential litigation.

June 2019: In this month, some of the worst Australian wildfires in history started. The fires caused significant damage to the country’s vintage. Across Australia, enormous flames were raging, decimating people’s homes and livelihoods as well as a staggering amount of wildlife. The worst fires occurred on the eastern and southern coasts, where the majority of Australians live. Australian parks, forests, and wilderness totaled more than 12.35 million acres. The wine regions of Queensland, New South Wales (NSW), South Australia, and Victoria were all affected. The Hunter Valley, Canberra, Rutherglen, Gippsland, and Adelaide Hills were included in this. All feared a hazy 2020 vintage since it was unclear how heat and smoke taint would affect the crop. Adelaide Hills in South Australia was the nation’s most severely affected wine area and on December 20, a fire near Cudlee Creek was believed to be the result of a broken power line swiftly consumed between 2,718 and 2,965 acres of grapes in the area, wiping out around 30% of Adelaide Hills’ production. During that time, the temperature was 111°F (43.9°C). The fire affected more than 60 farms and producers. However, a significant portion of those harmed were grape producers who sell their harvest to other wineries.

For more dates in wine history, click here.