A Very Brief History Of Wine And Religion

The first signs of wine are dated back to as far as 4100 BC in countries such as Armenia, Greece and Iran. Where the oldest wineries up date have been discovered. Wine is considered to have been produced on “accident.” In those days people would collect food and store it. After a few days the grapes would produce a juice that had low alcohol containment. People enjoyed the side affects and taste that the juice had and then began domesticating it into mass production. (Balcer, 1997) Since it’s origin wine was believed to have been used for religious purposes. Greeks and Romans honor the god Dionysus (or Bacchus), who was the god of the grape harvest and winemaking. Wine became a part of the Jewish practice since biblical times. It was also a

Over the years it become even more essential to the Christian church. Although Islam prohibited the consumption and production of wine, during the Golden Age, alchemist pioneered wine’s distillation for medicinal and industrial purposes, an example is the production of perfume. (The Oxford Dictionary, 2005) A Turkish group that lived in the middle of Asia reintroduced the production of grapes to China from the Tang dynasty onward. The production and consumption of wine increased after the 15th century due to the European Expansion. In 1887 there was a large infestation of phylloxera, a fungus infection that kills grape vines, technological advanced and have allowed wine production and consumption to now spread across the world. (The Oxford Dictionary, 2005)

One of the traditional uses of wine in popular wine culture, (usually considered upper class people in areas such as Europe and certain regions of the U.S.) is food pairing. For many years rules of thumb such as “white wine with fish, red wine with meat” was very popular, but has now become more flexible. In general, there are two ways of thinking about the wine-food relationship. One is to match their flavors, so that dishes high in acid are accompanied by similar wines. (St. John,

Perhaps no people take the toasting of wine more seriously than the Georgians. In Georgia a ‘Tamada’ (Toastmaster) leads the guests at a ‘supra’ (dinner party) through several toasts. Many of these toasts are said to have ancient origins that go as far back as the late Bronze Ages. These different toasts are offered to friends, family, and as many things as the supra Tamada would like to toast to. Wine is the most common beverage of choice, although brandy and vodka are also accepted. Beer is not acceptable because it is a sign of disrespect to the person you are toasting. (Balcer, 1997) The Haro wine festival is celebrated in Spain, also known as “La Batalla de Vino de Haro. Annually on June 29th, this festival takes place in a Spanish town that is the home of many famous Rioja wine produces, Haro. This day is chosen because it is also the day that the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (two of the 12 apostles.) This festival is a wine war. The wine fight begins on the eve of the 29th on the streets, bars and town squares. This is the largest celebration Haro sees. People of all ages participate in this event. After a few hours, the town walks up a mountain about 5kms outside of the town. Here they cover each other in wine and dance to wine soaked bands. There are water trucks filled with wine distributing wine to water pistols, buckets and other water spraying