1435

Year of the first documented evidence of the riesling grape. The Wines of Germany announced in 2019 that March 13 would henceforth be known as the official birthday of riesling. The date references an invoice found in a cellar log located in Rüsselsheim, Germany just east of the Rheingau region. The document invoices Count Johann IV of Katzenelnbogen for six vines of riesling planted in the vineyard of a local winery.

Which one of the following was not one of the original First Growths in the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux, France?

A. Château Margaux

B. Château Mouton-Rothschild

C. Château Lafite-Rothschild

D. Château Haut-Brion

E. Château Latour

Château Mouton-Rothschild was originally a Second Growth. But owner Baron Philippe de Rothschild petitioned the government for twenty years to have Château Mouton-Rothschild named a First Growth. In 1973, his hard work paid off, and his château was given the coveted status Premier Cru (First Growth). This classification system began when Napoléon III asked Bordeaux’s top château owners to rate their wines from best to worst for the Paris Universal Exhibition. They declined. The Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce became involved and ranked the wines on one quantitative measure: how much the wines sold for. This ranged from Premier Crus (First Growths) down to Fifth Growths. In the end, 61 châteaux were classified under the original 1855 Classification treatise —but there was one provision: it could never be revised. And, until Philippe de Rothschild came along, it wasn’t.

“For a long time Sherry was a victim of changing tastes, with fortified wines, like sweet wines, having fallen out of style around the time Churchill was born. The category has come back in vogue lately, partly because of its affinity for complex foods, and also because anything grandmothers approve of inevitably ends up becoming hip again.”

—Adam Leith Gollner, Saveur, February 2018

1435

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