BIBLICAL BINGE DRINKING

The very first news offer us pretty scattered info about vine cultivation and wine consumption, mixing history with myth.

We start situating ourselves in the cradle of civilization, that land among Tigris and Euphrates rivers. From Ur, land of ziggurats, comes a sign (2500 B.C.) preserved at the British Museum, where you can see several princes and the king drinking in cups, presumably wine; according to the social circumstances several cups were used, or a single one to close agreements.

500 years later Gilgamesh (king of Uruk) deeds are written, narrating the way he sought immortality in the kingdom of Sun and found a vineyard being taken care by goddesses, drinking the juice of the grapes.

Concentrating ourselves on more objective info we can confirm wine was served at feasts in Babylon; the charge of “big cupper” existed, maybe the first sommelier, who carried out delicate handling with wine in order to serve it, with no outrageous rise of price that is, since he was a government employee.

In the town of Mari, in order to guarantee the loyalty of his Bedouin guards, the king would supply wine for their pleasure.

The kings from Neoasiric Age (VI century B.C.) enjoyed wine too, Asurbanipal celebrated feasts under the grapevines and his successor offered one for almost 70000 guests, putting thousands of wineskins and pitchers of beer at their disposal.

To sum up, we can emphasize that wine, initially an offer to gods, extends itself to feasts of social relevancy.

Other civilizations such as Persian have their own legends, king Djemchid saw how plants grew from seeds left at his feet by a bird and later gave fruit; his lover drank its fermented juice and after having some rest she felt healthy and happy, their descendants planted vineyards in Shiraz, near Persepolis, mythical origin of this variety.

More to the east, in China, there are few details, but there are references to punishments to mixing rice wine with grape wine, we don’t know which part was the one considered as adulterant. What about the Bible giving this article it’s title?; three comments, the first one to point out the quotations referring to grapes, fresh ones, dry ones and most of them destined to wine.

The second one, Genesis 9, 20-27, to stress the significance of what happens to Noah. When he gets back to normality, abandoning the Ark and being responsible of the restoration of life on Earth, he plants a vineyard, and when it gives its fruits, without the need to go to any tabern, just right there in the middle of the countryside, he gets drunk in such way that his sons have to pick him up from the vineyard.

He deserves being declared patron saint of all of the binge drinking (that has so little to do with the culture of wine) being absurdly carried out all over Spain.

Last but not least, Holy Bible has also a banning temptation, Moses puts it under suspicion, he’s afraid of excesses while traversing the desert, after checking “how dudes had a huge hangover at the binge drinking” celebrated while he was receiving the Ten Commandments, and forbids it before and during the cult, hopefully the Book of Psalms counteracts this and supports our beloved drink, as it states it “cheers up men’s heart”.

Luís Menchén - March 2006