Happy Hallowed Wine
Wine, in its Western world form in any rate, owes a great debt to religion. Long linked to the Judeo-Christian forms of worship, wine evolved in Europe differently than in the East. Mostly.
When I was in China most of the European style wines were actually being made by Europeans. The traditional styled Chinese wines are more akin to medicine, than a delightful sipper. At first blush this looks different than what most of us think of as wine, but then there is cold medicine.
Alcohol's ability to relax us is often overlooked. Many people drink wine because it is less intoxicating than a cocktail. It has a mellower buzz as it were - and some wines have different buzzes altogether, but that is for another column.
The health benefits that many studies have shown wine to possess come in no small part from stress reduction. I am not advocating wine in any form or shape as medicinal (no need to dial your attorneys quite yet), but it certainly has been considered so throughout history, even in Europe.
And so it is that wine has been prescribed for centuries for everything that ails us, including our spiritual health (bet you wondered how I was going to work that back in, huh?).
It is only because wine was considered so important for our physical and spiritual health that it evolved into today's favorite quaff. Thought history grape growing regions have been under pressure to switch to food crops. Only the need for wine as a sacrament, and its reported curative attributes, staved off the plows.
As the churches continued to nurture the vine, so did they learn more about growing grapes and making wine (many a monk had time on his hands). By the time of the French Revolution, which placed the vine into the hands of the secular, there was a rich tradition on which to build.
Meanwhile, China revered wine for its medicinal prowess above all, and so today we have examples of wine that would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world. Seeped through herbs, infused with everything from flowers to male animal parts (remind me to tell you about this one some time), Chinese traditional wines are down right spooky by Western standards.
In Europe wine science overtook superstition and the beverage continued to improve into the reliable and consistent products we have today. So on this day of superstition and reverence to things hallowed, I tip my hat to the history of wine in Europe and give at least a nod to its traditional medicinal use.
So what wine goes with Halloween Candy? A nice sweet Orange Muscat of course.
When I was in China most of the European style wines were actually being made by Europeans. The traditional styled Chinese wines are more akin to medicine, than a delightful sipper. At first blush this looks different than what most of us think of as wine, but then there is cold medicine.
Alcohol's ability to relax us is often overlooked. Many people drink wine because it is less intoxicating than a cocktail. It has a mellower buzz as it were - and some wines have different buzzes altogether, but that is for another column.
The health benefits that many studies have shown wine to possess come in no small part from stress reduction. I am not advocating wine in any form or shape as medicinal (no need to dial your attorneys quite yet), but it certainly has been considered so throughout history, even in Europe.
And so it is that wine has been prescribed for centuries for everything that ails us, including our spiritual health (bet you wondered how I was going to work that back in, huh?).
It is only because wine was considered so important for our physical and spiritual health that it evolved into today's favorite quaff. Thought history grape growing regions have been under pressure to switch to food crops. Only the need for wine as a sacrament, and its reported curative attributes, staved off the plows.
As the churches continued to nurture the vine, so did they learn more about growing grapes and making wine (many a monk had time on his hands). By the time of the French Revolution, which placed the vine into the hands of the secular, there was a rich tradition on which to build.
Meanwhile, China revered wine for its medicinal prowess above all, and so today we have examples of wine that would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world. Seeped through herbs, infused with everything from flowers to male animal parts (remind me to tell you about this one some time), Chinese traditional wines are down right spooky by Western standards.
In Europe wine science overtook superstition and the beverage continued to improve into the reliable and consistent products we have today. So on this day of superstition and reverence to things hallowed, I tip my hat to the history of wine in Europe and give at least a nod to its traditional medicinal use.
So what wine goes with Halloween Candy? A nice sweet Orange Muscat of course.
posted by Wineguy at 8:39 AM
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