When Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle's church, the ire of the Catholicism was raised and the beginning of one of the most important movements in history began. Luther's main gripe was the sale of indulgences, but wine was also on his mind, in particular its role in the ceremony of the Eucharist.
Wine has always played an important role in Christianity; since the Last Supper, it has faithfully represented the blood of Christ. But in Luther's day, the priests consumed the wine on behalf of the congregation. This didn't wash well with him and wasn't a practice adopted by Protestantism.
The particular wine used by the church in 16th century Germany was probably Pinot Noir (Blauburgunder), grown in Alsace, it would have been the most readily accessible red wine. Sacramental wine may be made from any variety.
Christianity wasn't the first religion to attach an importance to wine; the cult of Dionysus also used wine in its ceremonies, but was far more liberal in its application. Although Dionysus is known as the Greek god of wine, he originated further east and spread through Phoenicia and Egypt to the Minoan civilisation of Crete and thence into Greece, where he became one of the twelve Olympians.
The wine of Ancient Greece wouldn't appeal to most modern palates. We'll never know just what they tasted like and there is no objective data such as alcohol content or grams per litre of residual sugar to report, but from what can be called the tasting notes of the day, we know that they drank both white and red, and had a preference for sweet styles.
They always added water (actually they always added wine to water rather than water to wine)—only the barbarians would be crude enough to drink undiluted wine—and other additives were common.
Lead was said to add sweetness to the wine and is in fact a good preservative as it kills the bacteria (and the neurons in the head, once consumed). Herbs and honey were common; one recipe for mixing suggests 50 per cent honey, so we can be sure this particular wine was very viscous. And the water added was frequently seawater, which was often aged before blending.
The most common preservative was tree resin, the best being from the terebinth. They didn't age wine in oak; they used clay amphorae instead.
The Romans were the first to use oak, simply because barrels were easier to transport. The added flavour and texture are merely a side effect that happens to be fashionable in the modern world.
Although we can consider this point a step forward in the progress of wine, archaeologically the effect is that we have far less evidence of wine from this point, because barrels rot away without a trace, whereas amphorae last for millennia.
One important find for wine historians was made in the tomb of the boy king of Egypt who was given some fine vintages to take with him into the afterlife. Whether the wine actually went with him to the afterlife, or just evaporated is another question!
Stephen Thomson is a senior wine educator with The Wine Society