[Avodah] wine choice

[Joe Slater via Avodah]

Wine in those days was frequently (typically?) flavored with resins or
spices, some of which are actually toxic. These resins seem to have had the
same effect as hops do in beer: they discourage microbial growth and
therefore prevent it from souring and spoiling. This was an important
consideration before the invention of Pasteurisation.

If R' Yonah was allergic or otherwise sensitive to these resins he may have
ascribed his symptoms to the wine itself. Alternatively, perhapshe simply
didn't have access to any untreated wine and perhaps he didn't consider
raisin "wine" to be chashuv enough.

Joe Slater
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