At the tables of kings and nobles, wine was never simply something to drink. It was an instrument of power — a badge of rank, a measure of taste, a tool of diplomacy and, at the greatest feasts, a piece of pure theatre. The finest bottles were reserved for the highest tables, and a monarch’s preference could make or break the fortunes of an entire wine region3. To understand how certain wines became legendary, you have to look at the court.
Quick facts
- In 1224 a French king staged what may be the first great wine contest.
- Louis XIV’s doctor prescribed him aged Burgundy, boosting the whole region.
- Louis XIV called Tokaji “the wine of kings and the king of wines.”
- A royal palate could set the fashion — and the price — for everyone below.
Wine as a badge of rank
In the courts of medieval and early-modern Europe, the cellar was a kind of treasury. The best wines — rare, well-travelled and expensive — flowed only at the top tables, and a great feast was as much a display of power as a meal1. Veronese’s enormous Wedding Feast at Cana captures the idea perfectly: a biblical miracle reimagined as a glittering banquet, where the endless flow of wine is a vision of magnificence itself. To command such wine was to command respect.
The first wine contest
The courtly obsession with ranking wine produced, as early as 1224, something remarkably close to a modern competition. In a celebrated poem, La Bataille des Vins, the writer Henry d’Andeli describes a grand tasting staged by King Philip II Augustus of France2. More than seventy wines were gathered from across France and beyond — from Cyprus, Spain, the Moselle and more — and set before a single English priest to judge. (Related: the Philistines and wine.)
The wines he liked he “celebrated”; the ones he disliked he “excommunicated.”— from the 1224 Battle of the Wines1
The verdicts were delivered in the language of the Church: worthy wines were “celebrated,” unworthy ones “excommunicated.” It was half game, half serious ranking — and it shows how early the royal court had turned wine into a contest of prestige, with reputations to be won and lost.
The Sun King’s Burgundy
No court shaped wine’s fortunes more than that of Louis XIV. In 1693 the Sun King’s physician, Guy-Crescent Fagon, issued a famous prescription: for the ageing monarch’s health, no more champagne — from now on he was to drink old Burgundy4.
The royal endorsement was worth more than any advertisement. It helped touch off a genuine rivalry — the celebrated “Burgundy versus Champagne” war fought out by physicians and courtiers for decades over which region made the healthier, nobler wine7. Centuries earlier, Charlemagne had shown the same power: legend says the emperor owned the great hill of Corton and had white grapes planted there so that spilled red wine would not stain his white beard — which is why the celebrated white Corton-Charlemagne bears his name6. When a ruler loved a wine, the whole world took note. (See also: Charlemagne and the medieval vine.)
The wine of kings
Wine also crossed borders as an instrument of statecraft. The sweet golden wine of Tokaj in Hungary became so prized that after Prince Ferenc Rákóczi presented it to Louis XIV around 1703, the king pronounced it Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum — “the wine of kings and the king of wines”5. Tokaji flowed at Versailles and at the courts of the Russian tsars, and nobles used bottles of it to sweeten diplomatic negotiations.
| Wine | Royal patron | The story |
|---|---|---|
| Burgundy | Louis XIV | Prescribed by his doctor in 1693; the king’s health wine |
| Champagne | French kings | The coronation wine of Reims |
| Tokaji | Louis XIV | Crowned “the wine of kings and the king of wines” |
| Corton-Charlemagne | Charlemagne | White grapes said to be planted to spare his beard |
The taste that trickled down
The influence of the court did not stay at court. What kings and nobles drank became what everyone else aspired to drink, and the prestige hierarchies of the royal cellar are the distant ancestors of every modern fine-wine ranking and classification3. When we treat certain bottles as symbols of success today, we are still, in a sense, drinking at the king’s table — following a taste that was set, centuries ago, by the most powerful people in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
More from this day in wine history
See everything else that happened on February 29 — who was born, what was bottled, and which laws were signed.
Read more
- Why champagne is connected to wealth
- Wine and historical trade routes
- The story of Tokaji, the wine of kings
References
- Wine Spectator — The First Wine Competition? (the 1224 Battle of the Wines). www.winespectator.com ↩
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Philip II (Philip Augustus), king of France. www.britannica.com ↩
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Louis XIV of France. www.britannica.com ↩
- Bourgogne Wines (BIVB) — The wines of Bourgogne at court, from royalty to revolution. www.bourgogne-wines.com ↩
- Springer Nature — Tokaji Aszú: “The Wine of Kings, the King of Wines.” link.springer.com ↩
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Charlemagne. www.britannica.com ↩
- Quill & Pad — Inside Burgundy’s history, including a ‘royal war’ with Champagne. quillandpad.com ↩
Recommended reading
Hugh Johnson
A sweeping history in which kings, courts and noble cellars drive the rise of the world’s great wines.
Rod Phillips
A clear account of how power, class and prestige shaped which wines the world came to prize.
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