The recent history of wine is extremely colorful with good years (or vintages) and not so good years, but all significant and important milestones in the development of the wine.

Most Wine 101 guides will tell you that the 10 important years in the recent history of wine making, tasting and enjoyment include:

• 1900: Superb year.
• 1919: Treaty of Versailles. Germany is forbidden to continue using the name Champagne for its sparkling wines.
• 1920-1933: Prohibition of the sale of alcohol in the US.
• 1935: Introduction of the appellation d’origine contrOlée (AOC) in France. First system of classification of origins on a national scale.
• 1945: End of World War II. Legendary vintage with extremely small yield but extremely high quality.
• 1956: Night frost in April destroys much of the crop in France.
• 1973: Promotion of Mouton- Rothschild from deuxiEme to premier cry classë. First, and up to now the only, modification of the famous Médoc C assification since 1855.
• 1976: Napa Valley versus France tasting. Smashing ‘victory’ for Na pa.
• 1986: Spain and Portugal admitted to the European Union. Enormous incentive for better-quality wines in these countries.
• 1999: Total area of the world’s vineyards: 7,842,000 hectares. Total production: 282,000,000 hectoliters.