Wine: [wahyn] The fermented juice of grapes, made in many varieties, such as red, white, sweet, dry, still, and sparkling, for use as a beverage, in cooking, in religious rites, etc., and usually having an alcoholic content of 14 percent or less.

Excluding the number seven and the letter “chet”, wine also plays a prominent role in Jewish culture. Wine, vino, yayiin, wein – whatever language you prefer, wine appears recurrently at every Jewish celebration and festival. Being the month of Adar with Purim on its way, where wine sellers profits jump dramatically, I thought it would be significant to touch on some wine history/nutrition.

So in the spirit of combining wine, our beloved ‘chet’ and the number seven (in the words of a certain pink-haired singer) ‘so raise your glass’ and drink to life:

“Lechaim, lechaim, lechaim, lechaim, lechaim, lechaim, lechaim!”

A little bit of history…

Like I mentioned previously in my exegesis on Challah, wine also carries a lot of significance in Judaism – historically, spiritually, culturally and ritualistically. For your sake and mine, I won’t expand on all of these aspects. An area that I found particulary interesting is the specific strict laws of Kashrut that accompany wine. With all other foods and drink in Judaism it is generally the ingredients that determine whether or not it is Kosher. When it comes to wine, however, the laws are more around who handles and processes the wine .

Firstly – kosher wines must be processed, bottled, handled, opened and poured by observant Jews. The wine will immediately become “non-kosher” if a non-Jew pours the wine. Sound intense? A little.

There is one exception to this law. When wine is heated to almost-boling point, the wine can be handled by non-Jews. This wine is also called “mevushal” (cooked). Generally, a bottle of wine will state whether it is mevushal or not, so you won’t be left wondering. There are some other cases that may cause a wine to become not Kosher but that’s all we have time for today, folks.

That one aspect is only a small percentage of the symbolism wine holds in Jewish culture. I’d love for you to share your thoughts on what wine means to you in any aspect of Judaism.

Moving onto something a little less heavy..

Spot the Nutrition…

**Disclaimer**

For those of you who are struggling to get in those 8 cups of fluid every day: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but wine (or any form of alcohol) does not count toward those 8 cups. Give water a try. If that fails – any other fluid will do (even coffee and tea).

Avoid if:

-                                  pregnant

-                                  fructose intolerant (especially dry wine)

-                                  under 18 years of age

Enough with the negative – I’m sure many of you are aware of the detrimental effects wine carries. And if you are interested in reading more, this government website is a good place to go: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Cont nt/standard

But does wine actually carry any nutritional virtue? The question that I seem to hear repeatedly is whether or not one glass of wine a day is good for you? This statement that you may have heard in the media, or from your friends (particularly mentioned in the company of wine) refers to the decreased risk of heart disease a daily drink of wine has been shown to provide. The reason that red wine may be slightly protective for the heart is because of certain components inside the wine called antioxidants. Studies have found that these antioxidants can lower blood pressure, prevent blood clots and increase our good (HDL) cholesterol.  At the same time, there are so many other foods that can provide these benefits, without the disadvantages that wine carries. Unfortunately, wine  is not an essential part of our diet in terms of nutrition. Fortunately, it does remain an essential part of Judaism. Thus: Enjoy drinking those 4 cups at the Pesach seder, the copious amounts of wine on Purim and the exorbitant alcoholic beverages imbibed on Simchat Torah. Try not to make a daily habit out of it.


On a completely different note, I thought I might briefly discuss the energy content of wine. It may be hard to believe, but drinking one glass of wine (250 mL) is equal in calories to 2.5 slices of bread, and would take 37 minutes of fast walking to burn this energy off. This means, drinking a glass of wine with a sandwich, is similar to having 5 slices of bread. I found this really great information sheet that provides the energy content of different alcoholic drinks if that area happens to spark your interest: 
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment?ui=2&ik=0845189229&view=att&th=12e2b7f3236c8781&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_gk7ei4eb0&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P8aPTeBeDh4MuJEOISqlwYS&sadet=1298285016613&sads=Hdhq9iSZRjAotdYHIpaDNw9wd6o&sadssc=1

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