The “natural wine” has become fashionable. There is a place where he takes centuries without so much hype: Mass

In 83, Juan Pablo II visited the prison of Rebibbia, in Rome, and hugged Mehmet Ali Agcathe man who had tried to kill him a couple of years before the Plaza de San Pedro. In 89, a crowd accompanies the coffins of Jesuit parents killed in El Salvador. In 2016, in the middle of Holy Thursday, Francisco washed the feet of a group of refugees from the center of Castelnuovo di Porto …

There are many iconic images around the Catholic Church. But for me the image that has impacted me the most happened a couple of years ago: when I saw the priest of my town, dressed in its clerriman, buying a tetra brick of red wine in the Mercadona.

Had he found the origin of Mass wine? I had never wondered where the wine that was used in the Eucharist came from and, I suppose that for that reason, that image left me completely out of charge. And as normal, a question immediately approached me: “Was it possible that this was the wine that was used in Mass?”

The answer, in case there is any questions, is: no.

And here this article could end: with an anecdote of Berlanga that ends “fish -shaped“But no. Because, little by one that one starts to investigate, the history of sacred wine is really interesting.

Sacred wine? Although it is true that the Catholic Church (and Christianity in general) has done a lot to take wine to any corner of the world, the sacred history of this type of broths is very long. In fact, Jesus of Nazareth came to ‘resignify’ a good handful of religious signs of common use.

What is true is that it is not causality that most historical vineyards are on ecclesiastical terrain. Nor is it a coincidence that the development of the wine industry is intimately related to the comings and goings of the missionaries. Nor that the Vatican is the country that consumes the most from the world (about 45,000 liters a year for its 800 inhabitants).

Wine and church have always been closely linked.

And, for that reason, not any wine is worth it. Over the centuries, different criteria have been developed to know if a wine was likely to be used in the Eucharist. It is something that has been discussed extensively even in councils Like Florence of 1438.

However, it was not until the nineteenth century when the Church (with the industrialization of the world of wine) began to take the idea of ​​establishing criteria that ensure the liturgical purity of wine. In fact, until 1959, as was the case with other things such as togas or candles, there were ecclesiastical certificates very difficult to achieve.

The first certified wine was, in fact, Spanish. Prepared by Augusto de Müller Ruinart de Brimont, an Alsacian Even today is a reference in the sector. Maybe Do not be the best sellingworse is the one who has the most history (and It costs less than seven euros).

In search of purity. The current Roman Missal is quite clear Around the wine that can be used: “It must be the result of the mature or passage grapes and without artificial additions such as preservatives, dyes, sugars, clarifying or juices. On the other hand, sulphites such as antioxidants or wine distilled to increase alcohol content, which should not exceed 18 degrees,” are allowed to add.

The idea is to produce a wine that looks, in one way or another, which it has been using since time immemorial. The problem is that this means challenges that new wine techniques and enologies try to solve: The natural wine boom is part of the same game. Innovation that a bottle of natural wine can be surprising is still surprising.

The color and taste depend on the winery. And from which he buys it.

A background lesson. Because beyond the curiosity of who produces a product like this, the history of Mass wine tells us about how technological development is truffled with values, ideologies, religious beliefs and social configurations.

Here it is seen in a simple way (the composition of the wine consumed by millions of people is discussed in ecumenical councils), but it is not so different from what operates in the natural wine that so fashionable has been put. Not many of the technological decisions of our day to day. History is always more complicated than it seems.

Image | Mateus Campos Felipe

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