They’re not mainstream right now, but they’re more like orange wines.” (Whites given more contact with skins and seeds, resulting in tawny color and with more earthiness and richer textures.) “It’s kind of looked at as a flaw but some have that character and can be pretty nice. “The only thing that happens is that sherry smell, like a bruised apple,” Terrizzi said.

In those circumstances, it would be exposed to even more air. In Italy, wine would be bottled into smaller vessels for transport and dumped into glasses or pitchers for serving. “A little more oxygen is exchanged and it doesn’t have that oak flavor,” he said. Terrizzi ferments vermentino and pinot grigio in the shapely jars. He worked at wineries in Italy, spending time in a town called Matera, where the crucifixion scene of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” was filmed. During the voyage, the fruit of the vine continued to age.Ĭlay jars are not as airtight as today’s French oak barrels, but they do have advantages, says Brian Terrizzi, founder and winemaker at Gironata Wines in Paso Robles. Ships were built with boxes that allowed amphorae – the large jars used to transport wine – to stand straight up, she says. Before refrigeration and mechanized irrigation. It was a time before mass-produced pesticides and commercial yeast. Journey with a few experts to a land where transubstantiation meets carbonic maceration, as we ponder what is perhaps an unanswerable question: What did Jesus drink? Rather, it’s intelligent speculation about how that wine actually tasted. Some hold that the “wine” in Christ’s time was not alcoholic because such a beverage should never have touched the Lord’s lips.

As Easter and Passover draw near, thoughts turn to the vine and curious minds reel. In ancient times, wine was precious and revered, mentioned more than 140 times in the Bible. “… the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one but you have kept the good wine until now.’” (John 2:9-10). And if you heed the Scriptures, quite a good one, according to the maitre d’ at the wedding in Cana. Illustrated with maps and photos of historical foods, this is a visual feast that will nourish the spirit as well as the body. Author Kitty Morse has researched the original Mediterranean diet-foods that appear in the Bible and were eaten by Christ and the people of the time. A crossover book like no other, 'A Biblical Feast' is a fascinating blend of food, history, and traditional recipes updated for today's kitchen.

A Biblical Feast by Kitty Morse