Re: Wine in the Bible versus wine today?
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:46 am
A couple of other thoughts about wine in Biblical times:
The wines were fermented in clay amphorae that were made watertight by sealing with pine pitch, so the wines of the times most likely had a piney character that today can be found only in retsina.
In this era, wine (and beer) was safer to drink than water, so water was made safe to drink by mixing it with wine. This is why diluted wine was the preferred drink for children, as weird as that sounds to a modern reader. Dilution was also necessitated by the coarse and sweet flavors of the wine made from uncontrolled fermentation.
Mark Lipton
The wines were fermented in clay amphorae that were made watertight by sealing with pine pitch, so the wines of the times most likely had a piney character that today can be found only in retsina.
In this era, wine (and beer) was safer to drink than water, so water was made safe to drink by mixing it with wine. This is why diluted wine was the preferred drink for children, as weird as that sounds to a modern reader. Dilution was also necessitated by the coarse and sweet flavors of the wine made from uncontrolled fermentation.
Mark Lipton