Wine is mentioned in the Torah and in many writings of the sages. The following represent some of the quotations taken from our sages and liturgy. As one of my heroes and mentors likes to say, "I will let you in on a little secret. In order to be a sage you had to be really really smart!"
He likes to add that, in the words of King Solomon, '"Words well-spoken are like apples of gold in dishes of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). Silver dishes are beautiful and valuable, but if you look closer you can see the golden apples.
Tanach
"Therefore G-d give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and a plenty of corn and wine." Genesis 27.28
"Go eat your bread in joy and drink your wine with a glad heart." Kohelles 9:7
"Wine cheers G-d and Man" - Judges 9.13.
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous" Proverbs 20.1.
"Wine... at last bites like a serpent and stings like a basilisk lizard" Proverbs 23:32
Babylonian Talmud
"Who vows not to drink wine or cut his hair is a holy man." Tannit 11a
"When wine enters, council leaves." - Eruvin 65a
"When wine goes in, the secret will out"-
"Blessed be Hashem who has created the fruit of the vine." - Mishna: Berachos 6.1
Character is tested through business wine and conversation. -
"Wine is as good as life to a man, if he drinks in moderation" - Rambam
Wine... "helps to open the heart to reasoning". - Bava Basra 12b
I have come to appreciate kosher wine as an exceptional beverage that can be a metaphor for so many profound ideas in life like balance, nuance, management, integrity or even life itself. It is said when we like something we want to learn more about it. We take courses in music appreciation, art appreciation and what true sports fan does not study the details, statistics and background?
Kosher wine also plays a very special role in our tradition. Perhaps it is no coincidence, on Passover, the mitzvah (commandment) requires us to drink a minimum of most of four glasses of wine at one sitting in order to properly conduct the Passover Seder. Yes, that can be a significant volume of wine. I know a Rabbi who says, "Who else but Jews would actually complain about how much they have to drink"
Our Sages tell us in the Talmud in, Mishna Pesachim 10:1 the four cups of wine consumed at the Passover Seder correspond to and symbolize four expressions of redemption mentioned in the Torah (Exodus 6:6-7) as follows: V'hotzaiti "and I removed you", V'hitzalti "and I rescued you", V'go'alti "and I redeemed you" and V'lakachti "and I took you"
Yes, we are free to exercise our free will, but within limits. Isn't that the heart of the story? We're have the liberty to choose, but with purpose, meaning, and context. What purpose? It may well be a core question for the Seder table. We share the story and ask the questions. It's a mitzvah d'orisa (obligation from the Torah).
The story is a precise narrative with many levels of meaning and true appreciation requires an effort to perceive subtle nuances which reveal a deeper understanding. Does this sound like a description for the appreciation of fine wine, or perhaps even for an appreciation of life?
The Sages tell us wine can also be seen as a metaphor for a completed and perfected human life. It starts off as a simplistic and immature product (grape juice represents childhood), but must develop character as it goes through fermentation (struggle represents the challenge of evil); and only then does it become the mature product we call wine.