The O.E.V.E. was founded in 1984, drawing on the history of a medieval chivalric order created in 1333 and on the wine-making traditions of the countries that once belonged to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its patron is His Royal Highness Archduke Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, descendant of the last Emperor of Austria and of the Kings of Bohemia and Hungary, and a leading figure in the pan-European movement. The O.E.V.E. has its headquarters in Eisenstadt, Austria, where its Senate is based.

On Saturday October 12, the Conseil des Echansons de France, a founding member of the FICB, celebrated its 70th anniversary. The event was celebrated in the church of Sainte-Odile, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, with an anniversary mass, celebrated by the Archbishop of Paris Mgr Laurent Ulrich, followed by an induction ceremony and lunch in the crypt. In front of numerous brotherhoods, including several members of the FICB,Grand Chancelier Claude JOSSE, honorary president of the FICB (of which he

In the famous Croatian tourist town of Opatija, the unique event “Wine and Vruja” has been held on the first weekend in August for ten years. The organizers, an association of wine enthusiasts, sink iron cages with wine bottles into the sea, take out the bottles that have been maturing for a year and hold a public wine tasting. Vruja are underground caves and a geological phenomenon, representing the sources of distant sinkholes from the depths of the karst area.