I'll drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the Beverage Business.

I'm Levy Dalton.

I'm Erin Scala and here's our show today. Oh, It's that time of year again, tax time.

It's that time of year again, tax time.

And as you go over those taxes, maybe it will soften the blow to hear a few

tales of how taxes have influenced the wine trade over the years.

In 2,500 BC, the Egyptians had a wine inspector who would go around tasting wine and determine the tax amount on the wine.

Better wine was given a higher tax rate.

Around the same time, Sumerian scribes were cementing into place the foundations of modern literature

by etching tax records and historic records onto Kunaform tablets.

Fast forward several centuries, and Charlemagne seemed to have things pretty well figured out by the 800s. He'd grant large tracts of land

to monasteries for free. Then he'd set up regulations that would tax their wine

production and create ongoing revenue streams to the government.

So instead of making fast money on an initial land sale,

he set up his governing body with long-term cash flow.

But one of the best ways to control taxes is through lobbying government bodies.

Before the rise of nation states, this meant arranging royal marriages with other countries

who would give the in-laws preferential trade treatments.

A famous example would be the marriage between England's Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

That marriage helped keep taxes low for Bordeaux exports to England,

and many historians point to this relationship

as one main reason why Bordeaux wine has been such an important product

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