Wine & Religion

As a christian I find it absurd when people are confused that I drink wine, beer, and (God forbid) spirits. I think my friends are watching way too much Big Love on HBO and have too many JW's knocking on their doors. We aren't all black and white on alcohol. Here are some of my babblings on wine and it's many biblical references. (Read with a pinch of sarcasm and of course a glass of wine.)

We’ve all heard this story about Christ attending a wedding and the wine running out. So what did he do? He turned the water in to wine. Sure wine back in the early ADs was not your 14.5% alcohol, chewy big reds. Probably more along the lines of 3%, or at least just enough that it was safer to drink than water. Although if Christ was your bartender it probably was some of the early mutations of Pinot Noir with bright cherry flavor, soft tannins, full bodied, aged 4-6 years. I think he would have great taste in wine and shared his cellar openly with the happy couple and his friends.

But the connection wine has to the Christian faith goes beyond Christ’s social circle. It has been adapted through centuries of the faith. I am referring to Christians, is not meant to exclude Judaism or Mormons, but to talk about Christ is to accept that he is the Son of God, and the first example is about the star of the New Testament after all.

There are a few Christian religions that do not consume alcohol as a practice of their faith. However there are so many more that believe that God wants us to enjoy the fermentation of the fruits of our labors. Catholics believe you should have the blood of Christ running through your veins at all times by attending mass daily and taking Holy Communion. Most religions that practice communion use wine, even for the children. My First Communion was in 8th grade, for Catholics I think First Communion is in 4th grade. For Lutherans, Catholics, and probably other religions First Communion is a big deal. It was bigger than 8th grade graduation for those of us in private school.

Consumption of wine was very important from a health stand point in Biblical times too. Let’s think about it, wine has antiseptic properties (that God gave it). It would have been a way of decreasing parasites and reducing bacteria loads in the GI tract as there was very little running water in the Holy Land. Wine acts as a preservative, so does vinegar (a sad but still usable end to wine). God not only knew this, he created it.

The first wine makers for many countries were Monk’s, this is because of the fact that countries outlawed alcohol for consumption other than communion. This was usually because of the debauchery taking place throughout the world due to intoxicants.

You can see religion with wine every day (well probably for special occasions) when you see large formats. These bottle sizes are not just big and tasty, most of them were kings spoken about in historical references. Mostly in the Bible. Jeroboam was the first king of ‘Northern Kingdom.’ A Jeroboam is a 3.0 L bottle of wine. Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible. It is also a 6.0 L bottle. And Balthazar was one of the 3 wisemen, he stand proudly at 12.0 L. There was also Nebuchadnezzar, Biblical King of Babylon and 15.0 L. Melchior, another wise man, 18.0 L. And Solomon, Son of David and King of Israel, the mac daddy of them all at 20.0 L. I do not find in any of my research that there was a competition as to who could have the largest bottle of wine named after them. . But somewhere along the way people named these large capacity vessels with religious icons and it stuck. In all practicality no one really uses anything bigger than a Jerobaum at the table. You’d need a pump and a decanter the size of a swimming pool for your Solomon, not to mention 100 years of aging.

So next time I ask for a glass of 7 Deadly Zins, please remember, Christians have a great sense of humor, at least we do if we have a great sense of our faith.

It's been a while...

Sorry to anyone who was reading my blog on a regular basis. Our world turned upside down in June. We got our new house and well, it is a fixer upper. We are currently working on fixing up our new home. Our precious free time is spent tiling a back splash, scrubbing away that great Oregon mold, finding contractors to fix the roof, down a tree in the back yard...blah, blah, blah. We've been busy.

It's been a lot of work and that glass of wine to calm the nerves in the evening is just what one needs to get through extensive home repairs during a recession and limited time.

I did want to throw out a few comments about home repairs and wine to help put a smile on your face as well:

- Wine + weeding the garden = fun, though a bit dizzy when you stand back up.
- Wine + hammer = OUCH! Unless you're tearing out a bathroom, in that case it's a lot of fun.
- Wine + watching a guy down a giant oak tree = FREAKING AWESOME!!! (It would be awesome sober too, but if you're having a really bad week, why bother.)

I will apologize for falling off the face of the world. I'll be trying to get up some new posts of wineries I've been able to pop in to in the past 6 months and other wine things.

Remember - don't whine, wine, it's more fun without the "H."

Cheers!