I have never found Jesus an especially attractive personality, but one of the few things he did that meets with my wholehearted approval was to turn water into wine. One wonders what the results tasted like. A great DRC Burgundy, such as La Tâche? A Pétrus-style Bordeaux? Or, given that the occasion was a wedding, a mighty Champagne like Dom Perignon or Krug? In first-century Palestine that would have made their eyes pop.

Whatever the miraculous wine was like, one can only hope it did not resemble the other stuff that has been sloshing out of the Holy Land for the last few thousand years. Most of the so-called sacramental wines are sweet, syrupy reds fit only for comparison with Coca-Cola. Had any of these been served at my wedding, I would have been grateful to see them turned back into water.  Read the rest of this entry »