Wine in Christian Rituals Throughout the Millennia
As a Roman Catholic – and a wine writer – I haven’t given much thought to the wine that is consumed at mass during the sacrament of the Eucharist.
This past week I recalled a conversation with our parish priest several years ago about sacramental wines, and, in the face of COVID-imposed wine abstinence for congregants at mass, decided to offer my thoughts to you.
For Catholics, one of the fundamental precepts underlying their faith is the transformation during mass of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. This transubstantiation has formed the basis of their faith since Christ performed this miracle at the Last Supper.
However, the history of the underlying wine used in this consecration is not widely discussed. Certainly, there are religious laws that define how a particular wine qualifies for this sacrament of the Eucharist, but over the course of the last two millennia, there have been many different varieties of grapes utilized in this sacrament.
The history of wine is as old as the history of civilized man. The first mention of wine was the planting of grapes and the production of wine by Noah after the Great Flood. Numerous historical records exist since that time of wine being consumed as a beverage of choice.
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans cultivated grapes and produced wine as an alternative to contaminated water in their daily lives and as a celebratory beverage for special occasions. Each civilization created wine to conform to their particular palates. Several added small amounts of water to wine to dilute the bitter taste; others added honey and herbs for the same reason. Ancient wine bore no resemblance to the refined wines we consume today.
And so it was for centuries. Then the perspective of wine for Christians changed forever at Christ’s Last Supper when he engaged in the Passover meal of the time, including sharing wine with friends.
This meal became a religious focal point of Christians as they and their religion spread across the ancient world. The wine itself did not improve much; the respect for it grew, as a religious symbol of the underlying tenet of Christianity.
And so the quality of wine remained unchanged for centuries – until the European monks came on the scene in the Middle Ages, especially in France and Spain. They became experts in cultivating a more refined and pure wine that was pleasing to them and their spiritual subjects. They owned and developed properties that today are considered several of the premier wine growing areas in the world. The French monks toiled in Burgundy, the Loire Valley and the Rhone Valley. The Spanish monks ventured to the New World, planting grapevines and cultivating wine production in South America and all along the Pacific Coast as far as northern California. The highly regarded wines produced in these regions today are rooted in the toil and sweat of those European monks.
All of this for the sake of having ample supplies of sacramental wine for themselves and the masses at mass.
For some reason, along the way, the participation of church congregations in receiving consecrated wine at mass declined and then disappeared. Also, along the way, another sea change occurred – the Reformation. This schism divided Christianity and the beliefs in the role of wine.
It wasn’t until Vatican II in 1962 that Roman Catholics once again could partake of both the body and blood of Christ at mass.
Here in the 21st century, Christians of the Western and Eastern churches, as diverse as they may be, continue to consume wine in their celebration of Christ’s sacrifice – temporary (?) COVID impacts notwithstanding.
This now brings me to a more specific focus of my discourse. What wine did Christ likely consume at the Last Supper? What type of wine do we consume at mass in the 21st century?
Alas, the limitation of space on this page requires me to defer discussion until next week.
Nick Antonaccio is a 45-year Pleasantville resident. For over 25 years, he has conducted wine tastings and lectures. Nick is a member and program director of the Wine Media Guild of wine journalists. He also offers personalized wine tastings and wine travel services. Nick’s credo: continuous experimenting results in instinctive behavior. You can reach him at nantonaccio@theexaminernews.com or on Twitter @sharingwine.
