What would Jesus drink? Experts guess what wine was like in ancient times and what modern ones are similar

[Machiavelli]

Anne Valdespino
Orange County Register
April 2, 2015

Christ was a vintner.

And if you heed the Scriptures, quite a good one, according to the maitre d' at the wedding in Cana. "... the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.'" (John 2:9-10).

In ancient times, wine was precious and revered, mentioned more than 140 times in the Bible. As Easter and Passover draw near, thoughts turn to the vine and curious minds reel.

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[DCPatriot]

What else?  Dry red!

[jmyrlefuller]

A fascinating read, although perhaps a couple of strawmen: while wine is indeed mentioned a lot in the Bible, not all of them are favorable. Drunkenness is portrayed unfavorably at least a few times I can think of in my head.

Second, Methodists (probably the most prominent “dry” group of denominations) do recognize that Jesus drank alcohol but assert that it was of a lower concentration than modern wines. It's plausible. The article notes that he would have likely consumed peasant wine at the last supper, and that likely meant that it could have easily been diluted with unfermented juice to lower production time and cost, thus lowering the alcohol content.

[DCPatriot]

A fascinating read, although perhaps a couple of strawmen: while wine is indeed mentioned a lot in the Bible, not all of them are favorable. Drunkenness is portrayed unfavorably at least a few times I can think of in my head.

Second, Methodists (probably the most prominent “dry” group of denominations) do recognize that Jesus drank alcohol but assert that it was of a lower concentration than modern wines. It's plausible. The article notes that he would have likely consumed peasant wine at the last supper, and that likely meant that it could have easily been diluted with unfermented juice to lower production time and cost, thus lowering the alcohol content.

My Sicilian grandfather made it in the basement.  There were two or three large barrels in the concrete-walled room under my grandmother's front sunroom.  It was always red.  And I can still 'see' them sitting around the dining room table with the plastic table cloth playing nickel-dime-quarter poker claiming it was the best wine he ever made.  Till the next holiday.   

[GourmetDan]

The article notes that he would have likely consumed peasant wine at the last supper, and that likely meant that it could have easily been diluted with unfermented juice to lower production time and cost, thus lowering the alcohol content.

As Christ himself mentioned, it's not what goes into a man that makes him 'unclean' but what comes out of him...

[aligncare]

My Sicilian grandfather made it in the basement.  There were two or three large barrels in the concrete-walled room under my grandmother's front sunroom.  It was always red.  And I can still 'see' them sitting around the dining room table with the plastic table cloth playing nickel-dime-quarter poker claiming it was the best wine he ever made.  Till the next holiday.

You just described my father's wine room. I can still smell the grapes fermenting. Frankly, I never cared for his wine, but I never told him that. I still always toasted the holidays with a glass of his creation.

RIP Dad.

I'm sure he's sharing a bottle with Jesus right this moment.

[DCPatriot]

You just described my father's wine room. I can still smell the grapes fermenting. Frankly, I never cared for his wine, but I never told him that. I still always toasted the holidays with a glass of his creation.

RIP Dad.

I'm sure he's sharing a bottle with Jesus right this moment.

What I recall as a very young man...all I can remember is that you felt compelled to keep on sipping.   LOL!

It wasn't tart or sour.  It wasn't sweet.  You could taste a hint of the oak.  It wasn't what you would call a Chianti...but it was close.

[aligncare]

Some years Dad's was pretty good and actually rivaled some store bought Zinfandel. Those were rare years, though.

[jmyrlefuller]

As Christ himself mentioned, it's not what goes into a man that makes him 'unclean' but what comes out of him...

Amen. Something I remember whenever somebody tries to compare sexual immorality (condemned in both old and new testaments) with the Levitical sins such as kosher food and poly-cotton blends.

[Oceander]

My Sicilian grandfather made it in the basement.  There were two or three large barrels in the concrete-walled room under my grandmother's front sunroom.  It was always red.  And I can still 'see' them sitting around the dining room table with the plastic table cloth playing nickel-dime-quarter poker claiming it was the best wine he ever made.  Till the next holiday.   

No wine stories, but I am told my wife's grandfather - who emigrated from Czechoslovakia - used to make a variant of Slivovice using the pears from a pear tree in the back yard.

[mountaineer]

We had slivovits (sp) made from plums when visiting Mr. M's Serb relatives in Croatia. That stuff is lethal.

[PzLdr]

Maneschevitz?

[DCPatriot]

Maneschevitz?

 

[Luis Gonzalez]

Double Oaked Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Why in the name of Heaven would He drink anything else?

[jmyrlefuller]

Double Oaked Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Why in the name of Heaven would He drink anything else?

Liquor from North America?

Those Mormons were right all along!

[Lando Lincoln]

Double Oaked Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Why in the name of Heaven would He drink anything else?

That is exactly what I gave to my sippin' relatives at Christmas this year.  Does that count?

I truly appreciate the recounted stories guys.  Rapidly disappearing in today's world.  My father made dandelion or rhubarb wine.  No thanks!!  What my parents DID make was homemade sauerkraut!  Some years it was truly incredible while other years, it was merely good.  One year, I used my Dad's cabbage plants as targets for my BB gun.  It wasn't obvious until harvest/shredding season.  My God, was Dad angry!!  Each BB path had a ring of spoiled cabbage around it. I fessed up... my twin was totally innocent.  It became a legendary family story.

[ABX]

A fascinating read, although perhaps a couple of strawmen: while wine is indeed mentioned a lot in the Bible, not all of them are favorable. Drunkenness is portrayed unfavorably at least a few times I can think of in my head.

Second, Methodists (probably the most prominent “dry” group of denominations) do recognize that Jesus drank alcohol but assert that it was of a lower concentration than modern wines. It's plausible. The article notes that he would have likely consumed peasant wine at the last supper, and that likely meant that it could have easily been diluted with unfermented juice to lower production time and cost, thus lowering the alcohol content.

Unfortunately that 'lower concentration' argument came out of the Puritan era and too many churches have picked it up as fact. Mine even replaces the word 'juice' for wine in communion (big pet peeve as it is an omission/change for the purposes of deceiving for one's own bias). Wines of the time were actually a bit stronger as they fermented longer. 'lower' concentration wouldn't kill the bacteria nor lead to the admonishment against drunkenness.

Then, of course, you have my favorite verse, Luke 7:34- "..The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’.."

[mountaineer]

I once tried to make dandelion wine. That's not going to happen again.

[EC]

Dandelion - nope. Never had any luck with it.

Carrot, on the other hand, comes out gorgeous. Even nice if you run a batch through the still and oak age it for a couple of years. Most people swear it's a bourbon.

[ABX]

One thing we have down here in the South that is unique and pretty good is muscadine wine.  Muscadine is a wild grape native to the south that has a very, very unique taste (cross a grape with a very, very tart cherry or cranberry to get an idea of the flavor).  It makes a very wild tasting wine that verges on almost chemically (best way I can describe it). Comparing it to regular wine is like comparing wild boar to farm raised pig. When I was a kid, there was always someone making homemade muscadine wine and you still can find it in small stores around here sometime.

[musiclady]

Unfortunately that 'lower concentration' argument came out of the Puritan era and too many churches have picked it up as fact. Mine even replaces the word 'juice' for wine in communion (big pet peeve as it is an omission/change for the purposes of deceiving for one's own bias). Wines of the time were actually a bit stronger as they fermented longer. 'lower' concentration wouldn't kill the bacteria nor lead to the admonishment against drunkenness.

Then, of course, you have my favorite verse, Luke 7:34- "..The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’.."

Drinking is never Scripturally forbidden. Drunkenness always is.

I grew up in a 'dry' denomination, and even as a kid I could see the distortions that had to take place to make that wine Jesus turned the water into anything other than what it really was....... really good wine.

Actually, I'm not sure there was any large scale tee-totaling until the 19th century temperance movement.  Was there?

[jmyrlefuller]

Unfortunately that 'lower concentration' argument came out of the Puritan era and too many churches have picked it up as fact. Mine even replaces the word 'juice' for wine in communion (big pet peeve as it is an omission/change for the purposes of deceiving for one's own bias). Wines of the time were actually a bit stronger as they fermented longer. 'lower' concentration wouldn't kill the bacteria nor lead to the admonishment against drunkenness.

Then, of course, you have my favorite verse, Luke 7:34- "..The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’.."

Keep in mind, though, Jesus and his followers were not very rich, so it's not much of a stretch to think that they would have diluted down a skin of wine to spread it around farther, especially if it deterred drunkenness.

As for Luke 7:34, the Jewish leaders were known to spread lies about Jesus. They accused Him of almost every crime under the Sun. They wanted Him gone, made no secret of it, and would commit any sort of treachery to achieve that end. Jesus was no glutton or drunkard.

Furthermore, if you're a church, one that caters to young children, and has most of its congregation drive there, do you really want to be serving alcohol? It'd be one thing if your church used artificial grape Kool-Aid (and my most recent church, astonishingly, did that—I had enough of some of their other behaviors and quit a few weeks ago). The alcohol is not a fundamental part of the Communion sacrament. I've seen the evils of alcoholism firsthand and won't touch the stuff. Alcohol was a necessary evil then; it is an unnecessary evil now.