If we opened a Bible to any page—or
scrolled
through a virtual one—there would be a high probability of coming across some reference to wine, since there are many of his writings spread out.
Perhaps the most famous is the wedding at Cana, where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ turned water into such a noble liquid.
Although there are also those that advise drinking it in moderation and warn of bad hangovers.
The first evidence of wine production dates back to some millennia before Christ, but the religious use of wine was a reason for its rapid expansion and also for its survival.
The barbarism that shook Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire put the cultivation of the vine at risk, whose protection by the Church, which needed wine for its celebration, was key, concentrating it around monasteries, churches and convents.
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That fruit made to the taste, enjoyment and need of his creed, followed a series of parameters that are included in the Council of Florence of 1438 and in other later religious texts.
So, the rules establish that it must be the fruit of ripe or raisined grapes and without artificial additives such as preservatives, colorings, sugars, clarifying agents or juices.
On the other hand, it is allowed to add sulfites as antioxidants or wine distillate to increase the alcohol content, which should not exceed 18º.
Color and flavor are free will.
And, currently, there is a wine made in Spain, present in many churches on the five continents.
Road to the Holy See
De Müller Winery, a few minutes from the center of Reus (Tarragona).
Gianluca Battista
A few minutes from the center of Reus (Tarragona), Mas de Valls extends into an oasis of vineyards dominated by an old 15th century Catalan farmhouse and large warehouses.
The De Müller Winery is located there.
“But De Müller is not a very Spanish surname,” Eduard Martorell confesses in a jovial tone.
His family bought the business almost 30 years ago, although its origins lie further away, in time and space, when Don Augusto De Müller Ruinart de Brimont, belonging to an important wine-growing family in Alsace, left his native country in search of some area in which the phylloxera plague had not yet done its thing.
Thus in 1851 in Tarragona he founded the winery that would bear his last name.
Although his work was focused on export, the brother of that young entrepreneur had very close ties with the Church, which led to the creation of a mass wine that could reach the upper echelons of Catholicism.
No sooner said than done.
In 1883, De Müller received the Ecclesiastical Certificate of liturgical purity, thus earning the right to be the first winery in the world to obtain the title of Pontifical Suppliers to the Holy See.
His mass wine was served in the chalices of the country that consumed the most liters
per capita
from the papacy of Pius X to that of John XXIII.
“But at the Second Vatican Council, in 1959, they decided to abolish the positions of official suppliers, both of wine and togas, candles and so on,” explains Martorell.
On the walls of De Müller's offices hang the titles that each papacy extended to him to renew their commercial relationship.
Gianluca Battista
“The positive thing about this is that the position was born and died with us, which made us the only winery in the world that supported it.
And even though we no longer have that privilege, we still indicate that we had it on our labeling.
Furthermore, we are certain that our mass wine continues to be sold in the Vatican,” he explains.
In 1995, several decades after that position disappeared, the Martorell family decided to buy the winery, preserving all the heritage and production formulas.
Old wine, new destinations
From old tubs to doors, everything that could be reused was moved to the new location of the winery in Reus.
Those barrels that Alfonso XIII visited and among which Monsignor Tedeschini offered a mass that was commemorated with a solera that is still alive, found their new home there.
“The three enormous mass wine vats from the second half of the 19th century and with a capacity of 60,000 liters were transported without disassembling in trailers,” says Martorell.
“We built the roof of the nave later because it was the only way to do it.
Since then, boatmen from all over the world have come to see them.”
De Müller's mass wine triumphs in churches in countries on five continents.
Countries like China, where 90% of their Catholic temples buy it, the Philippines or Colombia are some of them.
Gianluca Battista
Between barrels, more or less large, Martorell explains that De Müller had the strong influence of Eduardo Vitoria, one of the most prolific Spanish chemists, whose essay
The Eucharistic Bread and Wine
set the guidelines for the production of a good mass wine.
"Basically, it did not have to be intervened, but it did have to be stable enough to be able to travel long distances by boat, so the grapes were raisined in the vineyard and then the usual fermentation took place."
“Currently, when we reach a certain sugar concentration, we stop the fermentation with wine distillate, obtaining a 15º wine.
In addition, we oxygenate the wine in the winery with barrels, so we create triple protection—sugar, alcohol and oxygen—with exactly the same system that the De Müller family did and in the same butts.”
Thanks to its static solera system with mothers of more than a century, its varieties of Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo give birth to a mass wine that is exported throughout the world.
Eduard Martorell, winemaker at De Müller. Gianluca Battista
The aged notes and the sweet touch of candied fruits, jams and raisins mark the flavor of this amber liquid, of which around a million liters are sold a year.
“In addition to the bottling and bulk formats, there are developing countries to which we export and that really cannot use a glass container, so they prefer drums in which they can later store other things,” explains the current owner of the winery.
While sales to individuals and restaurants are residual - it is sold online on its website for 6.90 euros per bottle - De Müller's mass wine is sold to churches in countries around the world.
China, where 90% of its Catholic temples buy it, the Philippines and Colombia are some of them.
However, Europe is where this product is least sold and, over the years, has moved to the tables during dessert.
“At the other extreme are continents like Africa, where countries like Kenya, Togo, Benin or Cameroon consume heavily,” he adds.
On the walls of De Müller's offices hang not only the titles that each papacy extended to him to renew their commercial relationship, but also the approval of the Archbishopric of Tarragona to sell his wine as mass wine.
In fact, you can also purchase it at the Tarragona Cathedral, one of the few cathedrals in Spain where wine is sold.
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