In the 25 months I’ve been blogging and podcasting I’ve steered clear of controversial and personal subjects like politics and religion. I’ll have to figure out a political angle on wine later, but I’ll take on the religious connection now.
Like many in Western democracies, our tradition is Christian. Today in church the lectionary included the familiar Gospel lesson of Jesus turning water into wine. Even those not practicing today will remember the story from Sunday school. Jesus and His Mother are attending a wedding in Cana and the host runs out of wine. After Mary brings this fact to Jesus’ attention and a bit of motherly arm-twisting, He turns six, 20 gallon jugs of water into wine. But not just any wine; one that the chief wine steward at the event deems the best served.
After the service I was thinking about how amazed the guests must have been and wondered why Jesus’ first miracle involved something as seemingly insignificant as providing more vino at a wedding. I’m sure that the Gospel writer chose this miracle on purpose since wine must have seemed like a miracle given to man by God. Unlike other alcoholic beverages which require human intervention, wine occurs naturally without any encouragement. We know today that wild yeasts penetrate the grape skins and fermentation begins within each berry; the technique of carbonic maceration takes advantage of this natural occurrence. To ancient man, it must have appeared to be magic.
The second thing I wondered about was how did this wine taste? The scripture says it was “good” but doesn’t give us any details as to the grape varieties involved or even if it was white or red. I’m guessing the wine was Falernian made from the Aminean grape as Jesus certainly would provide the best wine of ancient Rome to convince his Disciples He was The One. A white wine, Falernian was aged until an amber color somewhat like tawny port or sherry is today. I’d bet the wedding guests didn’t really care about what grape the wine was made from, only that it tasted good.
If this wedding took place today, I wonder what variety Jesus would provide? The crowd would be happy if Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir appeared in the jugs of water, but what if it was a blend of obscure grapes?
It really doesn’t matter, of course, but I connected this story with a couple wines I tasted yesterday. The first was a red blend of Castelao (a.k.a. Periquita) and Alicante Bouchet; the second, a white made from Viognier, Chardonnay and Muscat. Both quite nice tasting but a bit of a tougher sell with consumers due to the nature of the blends. I’m hoping more American consumers stop caring about the grape varieties and concentrate on the taste of the wine.
A fascinating question–why would the author of this Gospel choose this story? Of all the ways that the writer could show Jesus’s divinity, turning water into wine seems a bit…well, unexpected. It’s also interesting that (if my memory serves me correctly) that this is the only type of miracle Jesus performed of this nature. We have a few instances in the Gospels of Jesus healing the ill, and I think there were even two instances of Jesus raising someone (believed to be) dead.
I will have to inquire of a good friend of mine who is a professional (and professorial) theologian to see what he thinks.
Hi Tim,
When are you going to do more podcasts? I have listened to you podcasts from the beginning and really look forward to them.
I look forward to hearing about your discussions about wine and politics. Wine is the great equalizer in human communication. I remember reading President Jimmy Carter’s interview in Wine Spectator, a few months back, in which his homemade wine that he offered to international leaders gave him really great conversational lead ins.
I think the wine at the wedding of Cana is a type of historical parallel to the legends of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. Although, I would agree with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien that myth became history in Jesus. According to legend, on the fifth of January, instead of water gushing from a spring in Dionysus’ temple, wine would flow. So, the early church, naturally set aside time in the Epiphany season to highlight a miracle of Jesus that others wine connoisseurs could identify with.
I am not sure if the wine at Cana was similar to a Falerno wine or not. Dioscorides native of Asia Minor and army surgeon in the services of the Roman emperor Nero, writes: “White wine is the preferred one, in both sickness and health…� But what exactly was Falerno wine? One intriguing argument that I came across was a reference that cited a book by G.H. Ritter published in 1817, called a “Handbook of Wine.� Ritter states: “My assumption that the Falernian grape is identical with our Klein-Riesling is probably not too bold, for no wine known to us besides this finest Rhine wine and the Falernian requires ten to fifteen years to reach the highest degree of excellence.�
On the other hand, in the Jewish tradition found in the Talmud, the Passover was celebrated with red wine. For example, in the Hieros. Shab. (xi, 1) it states: “It is commanded that this rite be performed with red wine.� So, because the wedding celebration at Cana was a religious event, as well as a social event, red wine may have been the preferred choice. I sometime wonder if the wine of the “Holy Grail� was extra wine set aside from this wedding? There is a reference someplace to Jesus wanting to drink that wine again, with his disciples, at the resurrection.
Being a believer, I can only speculate that the wine was probably that ultimate benchmark wine that all wine can be compared to. Was it a positive magical blend of all different grape varietals under the cosmic realm? I don’t know. Perhaps the six vessels all had different types of wine? Jesus was accused of being a wine bibber and a glutton. Where there is smoke there is often fire – although I am sure that it was in moderation in Jesus’ case.
One of the most interesting aspects of wine appreciation is to talk about what you are tasting in a wine. Our palates can be educated to detect all different nuances of depth, complexity and flavor – as well as detecting certain flaws. Wine appreciation may very well have been a hobby of Jesus. It would have been fun to go wine tasting with him. WWJD (What would Jesus Drink?)
Bill and Jess: great comments, that really add to my learnings here. I suspected some of our traditions being liked to pagan tradition but your information here, Jess, is most enlightening and will lead me to further study. Indeed the ultimate wine tasting would be with Jesus.
To answer your question, I am editing podcast 71 tonight and will probably post it late in the evening. It is the longest Winecast in length and I think a really good discussion and virtual tasting with Ryan from Catavino. On Wednesday I am posting a Quick Picks for my WBW entry, so look for a much shorter show then. From there, I will get back into a Sunday and Wednesday frequency for full shows and Quick Picks. Sorry for being erratic of late, but I now have all my ducks in a row and can get back to weekly podcasting.
Cheers!
From my theologian friend, who is also a heck of a wine geek:
Good questions – you’ve picked up on a really interesting feature of John’s gospel, which indeed is the only one that features the Cana scene that includes the water/wine gig. The scene kicks off John’s presentation of Jesus’ miracles by what Raymond Brown calls a ‘swinging door’ stylistic feature, i.e. that it both closes the initial revelation and opens the next major section of the gospel. John’s use of the Greek here is interesting: instead of the usual ‘dunamis’ (act of power), he uses ‘ergon’ (work) and ‘semeion’ (sign) – words that are used in the Greek OT to describe the Exodus from Egypt and the ‘signs’ that God did through Moses. So an implicit comparison is being made here, resulting in the idea that God is accomplishing a new and final kind of salvation / deliverance, one which issues an invitation to true knowledge (like Prov. 9:4-5) and fulfills a promise of abundant wine in the messianic age (Amos 9:13-14).
As for the type of wine, I can’t really say, but I know someone wrote and published a dissertation on the topic of wine-making in the ancient Near East (damn – beat me to it!). It’s called _The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel_.